Sen. Kyrsten Sinema

   Sen. Sinema is my hero.  She is an elected representative willing to risk her political future in order to save our democracy.  Our two political parties currently control our government and our corporations control our political parties.  But one of my favorite senators chose to cast off her political party and become independent.  What does that mean to her?  Well, she is free to vote according to her wisdom and her conscience.  She doesn’t have to vote like a “rubber stamp” for the party she is a member of.  I think that is a good thing.  My position is not always the same as Senator Sinema.  If you are an independent thinker, your opinion will often not be the same as another independent thinker.  But, we normally agree.

   There was a recent senate run off in Georgia.  It pitted a religious leader against an empty football helmet.  That should be an easy decision for the Georgia voter.  But, it wasn’t.  It was close and why was that?  The football helmet was a Trump Republican and the minister was a Democrat.  Democrat and Republican representatives can be counted on to reliably vote as their party tells them to.  The party punishes them if they do not.  I once asked Peter DeFazio, a congressman from Oregon, who voted against his Democratic party’s NAFTA position, what the party used as a carrot and what they used as a stick to control his vote.  He said, “The carrot is campaign funds and the stick is committee appointments.”   So the party controls the representative’s ability to be elected as well as their effectiveness if elected.  That is a lot of control over who you the voter elects.  This leverage is obvious on federal and state representatives as well.

   Mitt Romney and Jeff Flake are Senators who I see as moral men, who speak their truth.  But their vote does not necessarily walk with their talk.  It is the vote that counts and their party controls it.  I believe that Flake had enough of it and retired.  I would assume that Romney will also.  Had they been independents, both men would have been a good and long lasting influence on our government.  The Trump Republican Party is currently punishing Liz Cheney for her outburst of truth against the Party’s wishes.  Liz will not be able to run for any office in the future without following Sinema’s lead.  And, it remains to be seen if an independent thinker can prevail in Arizona or Wyoming.

   The two party system has very much brought our government to a standstill.  The Senate is so evenly split between Democrats and Republicans that a 60% yes vote (a filibuster braker) rarely happens.  And with a Democratic slim majority in the Senate and a Republican slim majority in the House, you will rarely see both bodies vote for a bill, as is required in order to pass legislation on to the President for signature and enactment.  It requires our gigantic military spending to pass that hurdle.  Outrageous annual military spending is a bipartisan effort.

  I asked Richard Carmona, past Bush appointed Surgeon General and a recent Democratic candidate for the US Senate, from Arizona, if he thought our two party system had outlived its usefulness.  He answered, without hesitation, “Yes.”  George Washington did not want to see political parties in our government.  George was right then and he is right now.

  Kyrsten, “Has anyone told you you’re my hero?” – Old Buz     12/22/2022

Remember:

“One cannot fool all of the people all of the time                                                                  … and that is why we have two political parties.”

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com 

The Day After Christmas, 2013

Merry Christmas to all of you true believers and Bah Humbug to all of you godless Atheists.  I have to apologize for being late with my holiday greetings, but it is not abnormal for me.  My fondest wish for all Americans for the coming year is the outlawing of all political parties in our land.  I believe that they have done enough damage, in recent years, with their incessant bickering to see them abolished.  If the bright men and women that represent us, went to Washington D.C., with the purpose in mind of solving the Nation’s problems, rather than battling the opposing party, would not this nation be better served?  If the person you send to Washington acts to represent your wishes, with their reason and wisdom, but not as a “rubber stamp” for a political party, would they not represent you better?

Political parties are the conduit for bribes of large corporate dollars to be legally transferred to our representatives.  I am speaking of both major parties.  They are equally guilty.  At a talk given by U.S. Congressman, Peter DeFazio, he mentioned that he had opposed NAFTA, in spite of the fact that the party he belonged to, the Democratic Party, was in favor of the bill.  During the Q&A, I asked him, what is the carrot and what is the stick that your party uses to influence your vote?  His answer was, the carrot is campaign funds and the stick is committee appointments and the position held on the committee.  The basic power in Congress is in the committees.  So what he said was that his ability to be elected as well as what influence he has in government, after elected, is in the hands of his political party.  The alpha dogs and alpha bitches that you send to legislate are pawns to their party.  They are controlled by the party.  They can't like this. They have the power, through legislation, to put an end to it.

Richard Carmona, M.D., ran for The U.S. Senate, representing the State of Arizona.  He had been the 17^th Surgeon General of our country, under the recent Bush Administration.  He didn’t win the election, but got my independent vote.  He chose to run as a Democrat, even though the Republicans urged him to be their candidate.  Carmona has many Republican friends, in high places, but chose to run as a Democrat because as a scientist, he would have had a hard time siding with the party in stating that man-made carbon emissions had little or nothing to do with climate change.  In a properly functioning government, that would not be a partisan issue.  Your representative would take a well-informed, wise, independent position, on either side of the issue.  “Free The Representatives.”   I asked Dr. Carmona, during Q&A, if he thought that political parties had outlived their usefulness.  He didn’t hesitate to answer, “Yes, I believe they have.”  So, why do we still have them?  Thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, corporations can give unlimited funds to a political action committee, without being identified.  Unions can do it too, but their money is “chump change”.  Corporations don’t spend money and expect no return.  They get what they expect and friend, it is not for your benefit.

Cheers, Buz