Mr. Moderate

The title of this blog post is taken from a piece written by David S. Broder for the Washington Post, which published it on December 1, 2005. That was before the voting public kicked the Republicans out of power in Congress and replaced them with a very thin Democrat majority. Broder ends his piece with one unanswered question:

When both parties have lost public confidence, where do voters turn?

The duopoly that controls American politics leaves voters no choice at all for many of the most important issues which confront us. Both parties depend on huge contributions from the people who run corporate America, so neither party is willing to take seriously the demand by voters to secure the southern border of the United States against an onrushing torrent of illegal immigration, certainly including numerous members of various terrorist cells.

Anybody who has the least bit of interest in what we euphemistically call “homeland security” (but which really means “not being killed by terrorists in our own beds while we sleep”) clearly understands that we can’t allow terrorist armies to invade the United States at will. But to appease both corporate America (who makes huge profits off of illegal workers who work for less and complain less than their citizen counterparts) and the increasingly-large Mexican lobby (whose power grows greater the more Mexicans insinuate themselves within our borders) neither political party is willing to stand up for what the American people clearly want: secure borders.

Well, a pox on both parties!

Unfortunately, the duopoly leaves us with literally no alternative. Yes, there are many minor parties on the ballot in most states, but none of them are plugged into the vast gushing guysers of cash that it requires to run for public office in this media-crazed age. A serious candidate for Congress has to have at least a mid-six-figure campaign bank account. Lacking that, no news organization will even bother to report on major happenings, unless they involve major embarrassment for the candidate. And frankly, that bar exists even for card-carrying members of the duopoly. To get regular press coverage (i.e., an assigned pool reporter), a candidate for Congress has to have a seven-figure bank account at some point early in the campaign. Third parties, because they have no power to sell to the highest bidder, can’t obtain any of those huge sums that go for largely unspoken quid pro quos.

What this nation needs is a flat-out revolt by the moderate middle. If you are tired of seeing the politicians of the left and right mess up our beloved country, then please join me by shouting as loudly as possible, whenever you can:

A POX ON BOTH YOUR PARTIES!

And finally, clearly demonstrate your commitment to the middle by registering to vote as something other than a Republican or a Democrat. Your options will vary state-by-state, but most states have some option to register your displeasure at the duopoly by refusing to identify yourself as a member of “the system.” In those states where we have a large-enough group of non-duopoly registered voters, maybe we can finally manage to elect a candidate who will actually represent the people as opposed to mostly representing just those few large corporations who are responsible for such huge sums of election cash.