I have a novel idea. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement should turn on a little Barry Manilow, pour some Courvoisier, and proceed to get it on. After a wild and crazy night of jungle love—and nine months, we can all welcome nature’s happy little accident. What exactly would we be welcoming, you ask? The birth of a new political party.
This idea is not as illegitimate as it first sounds, despite the one night stand. In fact, there might be something to this idea. The Tea Party: “Our government has been fiscally irresponsible and is abusing its authority to levy taxes in the name of special interest.” The Occupy Movement: “Corporate America is being irresponsible in the markets so a few at the top can benefit.” Yes, I know each group is a so-called “fringe movement,” on the extremes of the left and the right, but, whether they know it or not, they are arguing basically the same point to the two institutions that make up America—“Stop being so damn irresponsible!”
The American government and our market is still the envy of much of the world. I say this not out of a vain American pride, but with a humble thankfulness for what my father and his father built. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement have each lined the curbs of our Main Streets and Wall Street to point out that we are destroying our inheritance little by little. The simple truth they have stumbled upon is that both our government and our corporations need to be better stewards of the common good. Would the novel thing that most struck de Tocqueville about America still be our “equality of social conditions”?
Maybe, like the hope of all parents, this child of the two movements can be the best of each. We could avoid the extremes of libertarian no government or socialist no markets and provide some real concrete policy. Maybe we can form a new political party that does not see taxes as the government’s inalienable right to play one interest against the other. Maybe this new party can hold the banks accountable for giving every Joe and his dog easy access to credit and playing Russian roulette with the housing market. Maybe we can figure out how to make companies like GE pay a reasonable share of taxes without all the gamesmanship and sleight of hand.
Maybe this new party can realize American does not really need to define its place in the world by having the most F-22 jets as possible. Maybe the party will come to see corporations aren’t actually people and don’t need to be allowed unlimited rights to give campaign funds in the name of free speech. Maybe this new party will be able to see past its polling for the next election.
And maybe, just maybe, this new party will even be so bold as to dream about Americans doing great things again. Maybe Americans could build a base on the moon and be the first to send humans to Mars—Google and Boeing could come along too. This would be a far more impressive endeavor than building another base in Afghanistan or being the first to bomb Iran.
Sadly, after reading up to this point in my article, a high school civics student is already planning to write a response to point out the folly of my idea and to bring up the undisputed axiom of American politics: a third vote is a wasted vote. And yet, what the guy in dreadlocks who has not showered for a week, and the guy who dresses up like Benjamin Franklin are each trying to tell you is, you have already wasted your vote.
Obama has not turned hope into American peace and prosperity. Boehner has not saved our economy. It is time to brave something new. Herman Cain has skyrocketed to the top of the GOP primary race not on good looks, but because he has brought a new idea to the table. That freshness has excited the right. We, as Americans, can think even bigger and try out more than just a new idea and a new face. Why not a new party? It was a new system that elected George Washington; it was a new party that elected Abraham Lincoln. We could use something new about now, even if it is a love child. This idea is not as illegitimate as it first sounds, despite the one night stand. In fact, there might be something to this idea. The Tea Party: “Our government has been fiscally irresponsible and is abusing its authority to levy taxes in the name of special interest.” The Occupy Movement: “Corporate America is being irresponsible in the markets so a few at the top can benefit.” Yes, I know each group is a so-called “fringe movement,” on the extremes of the left and the right, but, whether they know it or not, they are arguing basically the same point to the two institutions that make up America—“Stop being so damn irresponsible!”
The American government and our market is still the envy of much of the world. I say this not out of a vain American pride, but with a humble thankfulness for what my father and his father built. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement have each lined the curbs of our Main Streets and Wall Street to point out that we are destroying our inheritance little by little. The simple truth they have stumbled upon is that both our government and our corporations need to be better stewards of the common good. Would the novel thing that most struck de Tocqueville about America still be our “equality of social conditions”?
Maybe, like the hope of all parents, this child of the two movements can be the best of each. We could avoid the extremes of libertarian no government or socialist no markets and provide some real concrete policy. Maybe we can form a new political party that does not see taxes as the government’s inalienable right to play one interest against the other. Maybe this new party can hold the banks accountable for giving every Joe and his dog easy access to credit and playing Russian roulette with the housing market. Maybe we can figure out how to make companies like GE pay a reasonable share of taxes without all the gamesmanship and sleight of hand.
Maybe this new party can realize American does not really need to define its place in the world by having the most F-22 jets as possible. Maybe the party will come to see corporations aren’t actually people and don’t need to be allowed unlimited rights to give campaign funds in the name of free speech. Maybe this new party will be able to see past its polling for the next election.
And maybe, just maybe, this new party will even be so bold as to dream about Americans doing great things again. Maybe Americans could build a base on the moon and be the first to send humans to Mars—Google and Boeing could come along too. This would be a far more impressive endeavor than building another base in Afghanistan or being the first to bomb Iran.
Sadly, after reading up to this point in my article, a high school civics student is already planning to write a response to point out the folly of my idea and to bring up the undisputed axiom of American politics: a third vote is a wasted vote. And yet, what the guy in dreadlocks who has not showered for a week, and the guy who dresses up like Benjamin Franklin are each trying to tell you is, you have already wasted your vote.
Very good post, David. I agree with many of your sentiments, particularly your theme of the waste, folly and boredom of the political gamesmanship we've grown accustomed to in the strategery of the smartest vote to get behind. It would be a very good idea if Google came along to Mars so they could map out all the street views.~Bert
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. I have been influenced by listing to a lot of Thomas L. Friedman on audio tape. I think he is right that our collective political imagination is stuck on 9/11, and has no real plan for 9/12. I think one of the reasons people on both sides of the Right/Left have taken to the streets is due to the lack of a political imagination—no one is giving anyone a goal to be invested in. We are kind of like the middle class teenager who has everything and doesn’t know what they want to do with their life. America has a lack of vocation right now.
ReplyDeleteWe are so focused on fixing a system that everyone wants to see as broken, we miss opportunities for outward or forward focus. The space race is interesting to me because it became a national cause and it inspired a generation of kids to become engineers and such. I think we could use some inspiration.