Double Yuck

Frank Rich is disgusted, and rightfully so, about the lack of leadership being offered from … well … anyone, on Iraq. Out of the entire column, however, this passage in particular stood out to me:

If there's a moment that could stand for the Democrats' irrelevance it came on July 14, the day Americans woke up to learn of the suicide bomber in Baghdad who killed as many as 27 people, nearly all of them children gathered around American troops. In Washington that day, the presumptive presidential candidate Hillary Clinton held a press conference vowing to protect American children from the fantasy violence of video games.

Ouch.

Mencken said, “Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule--and both commonly succeed, and are right...” At the moment, it seems neither is particularly dependent upon the other to showcase its inefficacy, nor its self-interested avarice, traits with both parties share, if nothing else. Sure, they snipe at each other, but it’s not even necessary, so manifestly obvious are their flaws, and sure, one party is hell and gone worse for most Americans than the other, but even with such a grave disparity, the better of the two struggles to make headway in winning back congressional seats, so disarrayed is their message as they run ever more quickly and desperately to their right, as if hoping to win by becoming just as bad as their opponents.

The two parties are a collective stinkfest, and the presupposed frontrunners, John McCain (who, in case you hadn’t noticed, I don’t like) and the aforementioned Hillary Clinton, don’t stand to change the directions their parties are headed, as McCain increasingly panders to wingnuts and Clinton veers rightward to protect the children. Rumor has it that Chuck Hagel is considering an independent bid in 2008, and although I don’t give much credibility to that rumor, the fact that it can be even be floated at all is an indication of how widespread the dissatisfaction with both parties really is.

I don’t know what it’s going to take to get a viable and thriving third party in this country. I like the Greens, and I wouldn’t hesitate to vote for a Green candidate if given the opportunity, but they’re such a mess I can’t even get emails returned from my state’s Green party. And, honestly, I think they’re going to struggle until Ralph Nader goes the way of the dodo, because each time he pulls some new crackpot shit, there are going to be people who feel a creeping heat under their collars that reminds them of 2000, and it isn’t fading from their memories whose ticket he was on.

I read awhile ago about a burgeoning labor party in New York, which sounded quite good, but they seemed to be toiling for cash and support, too. It just seems like the two parties are so entrenched that it’s almost impossible to encroach an iota on their well-marked territory. I recall Mr. Furious telling me about having spoken to someone who worked inside Perot’s campaign, and how the two major parties worked together to try to crush him, while running their own separate campaigns against each other as well. If two parties with all the power will and can destroy any viable opposition, we’re not living in much of a democracy.

Campaign finance reform, shortened election cycles, blah blah blah. None of it matters if the political parties care more about power than they do about people.