I am sure you have been surveying various
influences upon the moods of voters and cannot help but to feel
mildly optimistic about your prospects for the 2006 mid-term
elections.America’s economic health is no
longer defined by labor, production, and thrift, but by
consumerism, profit, and debt. The new economic paradigm--which
has been developing for most of a century--has placed the middle
class in competition for wages with third-world serfs and "guns
and butter" government programs has made America dependent on
foreign regimes to back the public and private loans that are so
necessary to sustain "the American way of life."
Open immigration has been an important tool for
helping employers reduce labor costs and project an image of
financial strength. The unregulated deluge of immigrants has had a
negative influence on communities and culture as neighborhoods are
Balkanized by language, beliefs, loyalties, and customs.
Native born Americans are witnessing the
traditional promise of carving out a sustainable living and social
stability replaced by the business desires to expand profit by
reducing labor costs with "undocumented" aliens. This betrayal is
becoming very apparent to a high percentage of the population and
some of those are hiding their anger that is seething to the point
of explosion. This portends horror for all of us.
Still others are abandoning any honor for
commitment and moral restraint. After all, if a person’s worth and
talent cannot be used to provide for his family, then why keep the
family? The growing percentage of single-parent house holds, as
well as two-career families striving to keeping food on the table,
is cultivating children who have been robbed of necessary parental
nurturing. In its place are experiences that lead many children to
believe that their lives are insignificant to the material and
hedonistic pursuits of their parents. These children are going to
grow up to feed upon the tensions mentioned above.
One advantage your party has over Republicans has
been that your rank-and-file tends to sincerely empathize with
those who are struggling with social pressures. Whereas
Republicans, now in power, have taken the attitude that people
only have to become entrepreneurial and pull themselves up by the
bootstraps to become successful in this world, Democrats seem to
understand that life is just a little more complicated and success
more elusive than hard work and the profit motive can deliver.
Although your winsome concern for those
struggling against the schemes of the rich and powerful is worthy
of respect and admiration, there are some traits you have adopted
that have actually added to the perils of those you seek to serve.
The most damaging is your penchant to believe, in spite of
evidence to the contrary, that government power has the ability to
convert a living hell into a utopia. History will show that
government programs only attract devious bureaucrats that realize
their job security depends on perpetuating the problems you hope
to eliminate.
You have also allowed your concern for the
downtrodden to be hijacked by various movements that are seen as
quite odious to the common person who just wants to hold his
family together. Your dogmatism over policies that give public
protection to intimate activities or alleviate individuals of the
consequences of their practices has repulsed many voters who
might, otherwise, give a fair hearing to some of you more
legitimate causes.
If there is one habit you’ve recently taken that
has most contributed to your status as America’s political second
banana it is that you have become little more than
Anti-Republicans instead of a political organization with a clear
governing philosophy. It is assumed here that you have been sucked
into a PR vortex created begun by Ronald Reagan’s charisma during
the 1980’s and the 1994 "Contract with America" strategy in which
Republicans converted congressional campaigns into national
referenda on partisan philosophies.
In response to the problems facing this country
I have two heartfelt appeals I hope you would consider for the
coming elections. First is that hearken back to the provincial
traditions that made you such a stable political power for such a
long period of time. Tip O’Neill asserted that, "All politics is
local," and it was that local appeal that built the political
machines that delivered your votes and made you a significant
power. Please note that I do not believe returning to a provincial
focus will make you saintly, it will only remove power from
Washington and allow local governments to respond to the damage
that all levels of government can cause.
My second request actually poses a risk to the
future of the two-party system that has helped to cultivate the
dire conditions that were defined earlier in this letter.
Consequently it is a challenge, that if you are courageous enough
to consider it, can lend to dismantling the GOP, which you claim
to revile, but to your party as well. Doing so, however, just
might preserve this nation for future generations.
It is time for the two-party system to invite
the thoughts and criticisms of those of us who have abandoned it
to the public debate over government policy. Those who have left
the two party system are much more well-reasoned and
intellectually challenging than was Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996.
We have left the two parties for sound principles and have very
solid philosophies of government. To continue to relegate us to
the fringes of the political debate is tantamount to whistling
past the political, and perhaps national, graveyard.
Thank-you for taking time to consider my
thoughts regarding your future. Although you have embraced causes
that I consider very damaging to our traditions and culture, I do
not see that you have betrayed your constituents as have your
partisan counterparts. I certainly believe that America faces
threats to its future that are greater than can be answered by
Anti-Republican and Anti-Democrat bickering.
