For nearly 70 years the United States fought the communists based on the belief that having only one party to choose from for leadership was not only unfair but also victimized the entire population. When you have no choice in an election then it’s not really an election but would be more accurately referred to as a tally. The communist system finally failed but the American party system goes on and on and continues to rob the people of true representation by cornering us all into choosing between two parties. While having a choice between two is certainly better than one, being twice as good as the Communist system is hardly something to celebrate.
For the 40% of all Americans that identify themselves as Independents there is no choice for us here and we are forced to choose between the Democrat or the Republican way of thinking no matter how odious such a choice is. We are much like the Russians standing in line with blank faces, placing votes for candidates that had no opposition. Today we independents are being robbed of our constitutional right to fair representation because the candidates to choose from were pre-selected for us with none of our input due to the closed primary system. Even worse (and woe to us all), they are being pre-selected by the extreme wings of each party as the more moderate Republicans and Democrats have left their party in disgust.
As children, in preschool we learn to take turns on the playground and that we will never be able to have all of it to ourselves. Similarly, we learned not to expect that we should always get our own way because compromise is often necessary in life. Our congress enjoys no such maturity and their inability to see eye to eye on most issues has cost our country dearly. A business or private interest that operated with such a selfish lack of foresight and immaturity would have long ago gone into bankruptcy for its inability to negotiate as a reasonable organization. The roots of this impasse spring from the Republican and Democratic parties' choke-hold on our government through Gerrymandering, closed primaries, and financial monopoly.
The parties have lost their right to any political advantage over non-party or minor party candidates because of their inability to come to agreement, compromise, and secure a prosperous future for all Americans. Their loyalty to their party has proven to be more important than any allegiance with the American public, much in the way the Soviet communists were more inspired to maintain communist power rather than Russian liberty or freedom. It is time for the American people to demand an end to all political advantages given to the major parties so that Independents have more of a say in the selection of our leaders and the operation of our government. Perhaps then we will finally see real work and effort to secure the safety, security and happiness of our country as our leaders focus on representing their American constituents not their Republican and Democratic constituents.
