Commentary: Political Parties are the Problem in America
by Bill King
Watching the shameful spectacle in our nation’s capital masquerading as a national government, I cannot help but be reminded of George Washington’s dire warning about political parties.
In his farewell address to the nation, Washington forcefully warned the country that “political parties serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community (resulting in) ill-concerted and incongruous projects . . . they are likely . . . to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.”
I cannot imagine a more prescient description of our nation’s sorry state of affairs.
What makes the situation more infuriating is that 70 to 80 percent of Americans think the federal deficit should be reduced by cutting expenses a lot and raising taxes a little.
Why is it, then, that Congress continues to defy the will of the American people? It’s actually pretty simple. The minority who believe the deficit should be solved either by solely cutting expenses or raising taxes are the voters who dominate the primaries of the Democratic and Republican parties. It is these voters who give us nothing but ideologues, incapable of compromise.
For meaningful change, we’re going to have to return to the Founders’ view of political parties. Instead of being proud to be associated with a political party, it should be an embarrassment. After the debacle with the supercommittee, that sentiment should not be much of a stretch.
Bill King writes for the Houston Chronicle.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111201/OPINION01/112010330/Commentary–Political-parties-are-the-problem-in-America#ixzz1fKnrYaFp