Traditional Parties – Will they ever return

I miss the two-party system that was once strong and vital in our country. The Republican Party began its demise with the advent of Ronald Reagan and his rather sophomoric ideas of conservatism. In essence, he just wanted to get rid of government or at least severely limit it. It is a concept harkening back to the days of the B westerns he starred in where good guys wore white hats and bad guys black hats and the good guys won over the bad guys. But the country had grown too large for such a free market concept to work. Big business began to take over the government, with the reduction of their taxes. The emboldened Tea Party finished off the party with it take no prisoners attitude. Again, any government was too much government, essentially the position of an anarchist. No debate, just mindless rhetoric and scapegoating. With the do nothing congress Obama inherited it is remarkable what he was able to do. Then came the election of Trump by a mindless complaining minority that with a rigged election system, interference by the Russians, and the malaise of Democrats the Republican Party as the Whigs, died.

Along with the Republican party demise came the death of the Democratic Party. Once the supporters of fair labor practices and programs for the common good, the party under Clinton leadership became the new practicing Republicans in bed with business interests at the expense of the middle class. Hilary had a long run of doing good things for the public that was mainly dismissed by those who saw her in bed with business interests and a not so appealing personality.

The progressives were left without leadership and the disenfranchised conservatives could only look with dismay at a very unpresidential narcissistic buffoon Trump ranting on Twitter. And what we now have is an oligarchy, government by the wealthy.

Oh, there are good politicians remaining: Sanders, whose nomination for the Democratic party was stolen away by Hilary Clinton’s takeover of the party, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Baldwin, Al Franken and a few more Democrats among a few others. The remaining Republican seems to be John McCain, dying from cancer and lamenting the loss of solid collaborative work between the parties to get work done for constituents. There may be other traditional Republicans but their silence is deafening.

I lament the loss of the two-party system both with centrist cores that could work and compromise liberal and conservative philosophies into policies that benefited the nation. Can the democracy survive without these parties? I’m not at all sure. Unless people can learn to have studied discourse on issues without resorting to meaningless rhetoric and immoveable stances and once again have civil debates to find the common good, I doubt it. Most voters today don’t even have any experience of when the parties had reasonable debates and knew the art of compromise. Apparently, they do not read the history of those times either and learn from the past.

Oh, I am not a pessimist. I believe there is a God who still works for the good of people and loves them and will not let them perish. But I place little faith on the part of humanity to learn to govern themselves in a way compatible with the kingdom of God. The American experiment may or may not last.