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
No comments:
Post a Comment