Grumpy Old Men (and Women)…

Is it just me or do all of our politicians at the state and national level seem to be grumpy old men and women (no matter what their ages)? Every bill seems to be bitterly fought over in the most partisan manner possible. Every Congressman or Senator from one party thinks that every Congressman or Senator from the other party is a scoundrel or worse. Apparently one is either a “do everything for me liberal” or a “do nothing and let the capitalists rape plunder and pillage conservative.” One is either a pro-abortion murderer or a right-to-life fanatic, willing to kill to make that point.

Our political parties and the representatives from them seem to be held hostage by the extreme nut-case radical wings of their constituencies. It is time for change. I have been advocating the creation of a third political party, one that is more centrist in nature; but, that is unlikely to happen. What could happen, due to the influence and ubiquitous nature of the Internet, is the rise of viable no-party candidates. There is, after all, no requirement anywhere that candidates for office must be affiliated with either of the nut-case parties that we have today.

The main reason the parties exist today is to funnel money to candidates from their organizations. The political parties offer the advantage of being organized, of having so-called grass-roots groups at the ready to go out and knock on doors and run fund raising activities. The party big-wigs then use this dole to keep candidates in line – “don’t vote the way we want on this or that bill and we’ll cut off your funding.”

A few independent organizations, most notably the NRA and AARP have shown their ability to mobilize support for issues and influence things, too. It’s unfortunate that they most back the positions of one or the other of the grumpy old men parties. And of course there are the Catholic Bishops, who now represent a veto-power of sorts with at least the Republican Party. However, as several recent efforts have shown, the Internet can replace that organization and can do a very good job of both fund-raising and of creating awareness and support, especially among the younger voters.

So, maybe it’s time that some younger candidates take to the Internet as independents, running without the strings that come attached to the major parties. Right now the two independents in the Senate command a great deal of attention from both parties, even though both tend to side with one more than the other. What would happen if there were 10 or 20 independent Congressmen and 5-10 independent Senators?

Right now they get shut out of the prime committee positions in Congress because the major parties have firm control; however, if more independents were in the system then there would be no way to govern without ceding them some power (look at what happens overseas when majority parties must align with smaller parties to form a government). It would certainly change the dynamics in Washington. It would also force the electorate to study the positions of these candidates more closely, since they could not be counted upon to toe the line of one of the major parties.

In the last Presidential election, Ron Paul, a radical thinker of a different kind, found quite a following on the Internet and made a much deeper run in the Presidential nomination process than would have otherwise been possible, even without the support of his party. Paul flamed out when his positions on a variety of topics were better understood and he was found to be a bit too off base by many. What he proved was the value of a viral campaign on the Internet. Imagine if a more moderate, intelligent, photogenic candidate would wage the same type of campaign, without the stigma of being from one of the major parties. I predict that it will happen soon. Who needs political parties? It’s time to get rid of the grumpy old men and women.