Politics Nation: The Uncivilized Civil War; A Battle for Our Hearts, Minds, and Vote
There is a war going on in America today. I’m not speaking of the kind of war in which two well armed opposing forces are standing at the ready, nervously peering at one another across an imaginary line drawn in the sand. No, this war is comprised of opposing forces that reside on the extreme Left and Right of America’s two dominant political parties. This war is not being fought over territory, or to liberate a country and its people from an evading army. It is being fought to secure the collective hearts, minds, and vote of the American people…and so far, the American people are the ones that are losing.
Elections in America have always been contentious and have exposed the dark side of American politics, and the people who partake in the political fiasco that our Constitution mandates must happen every four years. Our Constitution also enumerates that each election is an exercise of America’s core principles, wherein elections are of the people, by the people, and for the people. However to any educated observer within or without, one can clearly see that these principles are at best inaccurate, or otherwise, simply misleading.
Elections in America, thanks to laws like Citizens United, have become dominated and driven by corporate money and special interests groups, who have overtly and covertly infiltrated America’s governmental and political system. Candidates are picked, prodded, shaped, and transformed with the precision of a plastic surgeons knife, into the answer for all that ails American society and government. No matter how perfect the candidates are portrayed to be, they are all imperfectly flawed because they are tied to political parties and special interests groups that do not allow them the latitude to be the kind of candidates America really needs.
The cores of America’s political parties frown on true freedom of thought; rail against actions that are most in common with the ideals and principles of the majority; and punish those who even dare mention the word “compromise.” The art of coming to a 50/50 solution, or exercises in “Quid Pro Queue” have been replaced with a “take-it-or-leave-it,” or a “my way or the highway” approach. Our political leaders have become locked in this endless cycle of brinkmanship that has sent them scurrying to the extreme ends of their parties, in an effort to survive politically. Gone are the moderates who once ruled the roost. Gone is the political will to compromise for the sake of the American people. Simply put, gone is the will to do what’s right for the sake of the country.
Although America’s political parties have vacated the middle, the “majority” of the American voting public still happily resides there. However, in an election year, they are forced to pick through the extremist in the hopes of finding someone who more closely embodies semblances of their own opinions and positions on the issues. The extremist amongst us will gladly accept what’s presented in front of them as truth, and the ultimate answer to our prayers; whilst the majority will have to draw a bargain with the devil and pick the least of all the evils, in order to get half of what this country truly needs. There are currently only two candidates in this election cycle’s Presidential race whose positions most closely align with the middle. I do not need to name them, as we all know who they are. One has a good chance of becoming a nominee and a equally good chance of actually becoming the countries next President. The other however, is barely hanging on, and by all accounts has no real chance of making it out of the primaries; although there is always that chance that someone will step in and change the rules to suit a particular agenda.
I have purposely avoided focusing on any one of the remaining candidates currently left in this election cycle’s Presidential race. However, I have…I think thoroughly staked out exactly where in this discussion I currently reside. Furthermore, this is not my attempt to convince anyone to depart from there principled position and come over to mine. It is however, an attempt to motivate thought. To convince you to sift through the rhetoric, discard the propaganda, and throw out the trash so you can at least come to a conclusion that will enable you to reach that soft creamy middle of Americana we all so desperately desire.
