A political party of none

  

Several days ago, members of the United States Congress, for some absurd reason, spent an hour and a half on the taxpayers' dime reading aloud the U.S. Constitution, and they screwed that up, too.

According to the Associated Press, our illustrious leadership omitted key paragraphs when they discovered two pages were stuck together, and "original sections that later were amended, including references to slaves, were left out of the recital."

In that hour and half, these guys should have been discussing solutions to joblessness, the wars in the Middle East, the housing debacle and the Great Equalizer - education. But both political parties decided to one-up themselves by brandishing their patriotism on the house floor instead of conducting the people's business and resuscitating a government buried in debt.

Thanks for the reading lesson, guys. It is comforting to know members of Congress can still sound out the words and have their priorities straight. This demonstration of political showmanship also indicated that perhaps Congress wasn't so sure what the Constitution contained until they read this unique document aloud.

Congress's needless reciting of the Constitution is a perfect example of why George Washington, our first president, and one of those rare Commanders in Chief with common sense, warned his countrymen about the pitfalls of political parties in his 1796 farewell address to the nation.

Just listen to Washington's priceless words that still hold water today:

"I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty."

Mr. Washington's admonitions concerning political parties are not unfounded. Just take a look at the buffoonery that transpires in the hallowed halls of the nation's capitol on a daily basis. We have been mired in a recession that has blindsided the middle class and elevated the ranks of the poor since 2007. This is the nation that put the plane in the air, stopped Hitler cold, and made other countries envious of our industrial might for decades. But for the moment, corporate shills, who occupy those seats in Congress, look the other way as American companies create middle classes abroad, while a majority of U.S. citizens face a decline in their standard of living in a nation that was once considered the land of opportunity.

It should make us all shudder with frustration when politicians show more loyalty to their parties than to their constituency. We elected them to Congress and they should be beholden to us, not to a bunch of money-grubbing lobbyists or the RNC (Republican National Committee) and DNC (Democratic National Committee). 

Our leaders should be focused on the Greater Good. But apparently politicians enjoy battling back and forth over their party ideologies while the nation is caught in financial quicksand. Congress's first and foremost concern is the American people. Some where along the way, our leaders have forgotten the meaning of the preamble's opening words "We the people."

"Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."

Washington was obviously ahead of his time when he stated that political parties "open the doors to foreign influence and corruption." Just take a hard look what is going on now around the planet. Thanks to this political in-fighting, nothing gets done or well-meaning bills are derailed for the sake of opposition by one party. We all suffer the consequences when well-educated man can't find common ground even though this nation's survival might be at stake.

We are all in dire need of a reality check.

So what are the options for the American voter who just lost a job and a house? Abandon both parties? That is certainly tempting when it comes to "who cares" is running for office.

Perhaps, it will require an independent candidate with no ties to any one ideology or party and will put citizens first and ignore the temptations of special interest money. This is truly a great nation born from a rebellion against tyranny and matured into a world power, but it up to us - informed voters - to elect responsible leaders who have credibility and the ability to compromise and bring about positive change in a country under financial duress and fighting terrorism throughout the globe.