Freedom-Fighters Forum

Preserving the Light of Liberty and the Ideal That is America

By William J. Dell – November 2008

As I sit here pondering the election I have come to a conclusion, the closeness of the past two or three Presidential election cycles is NOT because of the candidates BUT because of the two major parties in the United States. With the exception of the far-left of the Democratic Party and the far-right of the Republican Party there is NOT a nickle’s worth of difference between a Democrat and a Republican today. The question is – Is this good for America and the American Ideal? This writer does not think so!

For illustration purposes I would like you to view each of these parties in thirds. I realize this is a somewhat simplistic illustration, but it will serve the purposes of my thesis. It is my contention that the center-third of the Democratic Party politically holds much of the position of the left-third of the Republican Party; and, the right-third of the Democratic Party politically holds much of the position of the center-third of the Republican Party. With this overlapping picture in mind, it becomes evident that two-thirds of the two major parties are the same – NOT a nickle’s worth of difference. Or as has been stated elsewhere, “We have met the enemy and they are us!”

DEMOCRAT           Far-Left           Center-Third         Right-Third
REPUBLICAN                                  Left-Third           Center-Third      Far-Right
                                                  DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PARTY

We have gone from a two party system in this nation to a ONE PARTY SYSTEM or as illustrated above the Democratic-Republican Party. There is no better illustration of this than the $700 Billion TARP Bill along with the other $800 Billion passed by the Congress and signed by the President to help bailout Wall Street greed at the expenses of Main Street America and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And now they say the $1.53 Trillion is NOT enough and they what another $300 to $600 Billion more which Main Street will also have to pay. When does it stop? When do the foolish rich have to pay for their mistakes as we on Main Street have to pay for ours?

If we are to have “Real Change” as the Democrats tout or “Reform” as the Republicans tout, we as a nation need to look outside the two [one] major parties [party]. We as voters need to spend some time over the next six months reviewing our consciences and the positions of the second tier of political parties [options] that exist in our great nation. Then we need to affirmatively make a choice of conscience and leave the two [one] major parties [party] and align ourselves with our “new” party of choice and work “with ALL our heart, might, mind and strength” for the next 18 months to change the complexion of the Congress, both the House and the Senate, so that the change we desire as Americans on Main Street can really take place. Historically the nation has survived this political revolution before and we can again. Many have already made a choice, but they are ineffective because they lack the support they need from the SILENT MORAL MAJORITY who have acquiesced and don’t want to be politically involved. Because of this their, and our, voice is never heard in the Halls of Congress.

It must be remembered however that this is a process and it will not happen in two years. It may take four, six or eight years to make an effective change in the Congress such that “real change” or “reform” can take place. But if we do NOT start now, it will take that long from whenever we start. Much like our energy problem, had we started ten or twenty years ago to drill here at home we would NOT be in our energy mess; and, had we started our political reform ten or twenty years ago we, as a Nation, would not be in our present and serious political mess – with the America we love and the American Ideal in grave jeopardy!

For the basis of our discussion, it is important that the Political Spectrum be defined. The following is available on the Internet from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A political spectrum is a way of modeling different political positions by placing them upon one or more geometric axes symbolizing independent political dimensions.

Most long standing spectra include a right wing and left wing, which originally referred to seating arrangements in the 18th century French parliament. According to the simplest left-right axis, communism and socialism are usually regarded internationally as being on the left, opposite fascism and conservatism on the right. Liberalism can mean different things in different contexts, sometimes on left, sometimes on right.

However, researchers have frequently noted that a single left-right axis is insufficient in describing the existing variation in political beliefs, and often include other axes. Though the descriptive words at polar opposites may vary, often in popular biaxial spectra the axes are split between cultural issues and economic issues, each scaling from some form of individualism (or government for the freedom of the individual) to some form of communitarianism (or government for the welfare of the community). In this context, the left is often considered individualist (or libertarian) on social/cultural issues and communitarian (or populist) on economic issues, while the right is often considered communitarian (or populist) on social/cultural issues and individualist (or libertarian) on economic issues.

From this one may construct the following with regards to the Political Spectra as seen by most Americans:

LEFT /———————–Democracy—————————-\ RIGHT
Communism – Socialism – Liberalism – Conservatism – Fascism

The difficulty with this continuum is that it disregards the right half of the true polital spectrum.

And with regards to the secondary axes:
LEFT                                                                                        RIGHT
For Social/Cultural Issues:
Individulist (or Libertarian) – Communitarian (or Populist)

For Economic Issues:
Communitarian (or Populist) – Individulist (or Libertarian)

Also for this discussion, I have adopted Wikipedia’s three additional parties as the second tier parties in the United States. These are the Green Party, Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party. With regards to our first continuum on Political Spectra, we have the following breakout (NOTE: The Libertarian Party rejects this continuum):

LEFT /—————–Democracy———————\ RIGHT
Communism – Socialism – Liberalism – Conservatism – Fascism
Green                                                        Constitution
Democratic – Republican                                          

With regards to the continuum for Social/Cultural Issues, we have the following:

LEFT                                                                                                    RIGHT
For Social/Cultural Issues:
Individulist (or Libertarian) – Communitarian (or Populist)
Green                                                       
Democratic                               Republican
Libertarian                                Constitution

With regards to the continuum for Economic Issues, we have the following:

LEFT                                                                                                 RIGHT
For Economic Issues:
Communitarian (or Populist) – Individulist (or Libertarian)
Green                                                    Libertarian
Democratic                                          Constitution
Republican (Mixed)

From all this one may gather that if they are truly CONSERVATIVE politically, they might want to study and consider the Constitution Party as it appears to be the ONLY true Conservative Party in the Nation at this time. I also might add that they are the third largest party in the Nation after the Democratic and Republican Parties. Likewise if your politics are more Liberal, depending on how Liberal you are, you have several options with the Republican Party being the least Liberal and going from there to the Left. With the Democratic and Green Parties’ left moving into the realms of Socialism, whether they want to acknowledge it or not.

The following page is an Excel spreadsheet comparing the five parties as put together by Wikipedia. The page following their chart is their list of annotated references. Each of the parties have their own website so information is available for your further study. Remember I suggest that you complete your study by Independence Day, July 4, 2009, and declare your INDEPENDENCE from our ONE PARTY POLITICS – the DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PARTY. God Bless You in your effort and may God continue to Bless the United States of America. NOTE: Post-election wangling is afoot in the Republican Party. Cries for new Leadership and the ouster of the Rockefeller moderates (center-left). We will have to see if this can save the Republican Party. Can a live branch be taken from a dead tree?