Tonic For Two Evils

The root of the problem, good people, is the political parties. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent bid to win the 2024 presidential election could be part of the solution. If his campaign gains momentum, it will be a welcome development for all Americans. If Kennedy wins, it will be a historic victory. 

For decades, the grip of the two-party system has suffocated the best ideas for improving our nation. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Republican National Committee (RNC) shout down proposals that threaten their power through a corrupt circle of politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists, and multi-billion-dollar corporations. That corruption influences policy and translates into ‘the news’ we get on the networks and our internet feeds. 

Most powerful corporations do not give a whit who wins our elections, so long as it is a donkey or an elephant. They are both on payroll already. Remember that “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Money is the equalizer in America. If you are of the mind that we can govern ourselves better, then you should be independent. 

Roughly 2000 years ago the Roman statesman Cicero taught us that “politicians are not born; they are excreted.”  Excellentia! America needs to shovel some shit. We need to re-establish the founding fathers’ notion that governing is not a career. It is a public duty to be shared. Almost 90% of Americans favor term limits, age limits too. Term limits are imperative for every office. Perhaps more importantly, any agency official with the power to authorize spending should have a limited tenure.  

Americans should disavow an allegiance to any political party. Too many of our leaders from both sides put their party and their donors before their country. They have despoiled politics in the same way that union leadership has despoiled organized labor. The DNC and The RNC represent their own self-interest instead of their membership. 

A victory for Bobby Kennedy would be a much-needed gut punch to the two-party system. However, our voting process makes an independent run difficult because it requires a state-by-state petition to appear on the ballot. Kennedy is well on his way, but why do Democrats and Republicans get such an unfair advantage? 

RFK Jr.’s uncle, President John Kennedy once said to our nation: “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” JFK was right on. Many Americans have already left the parties, more of us are independent than are Democrat or Republican. 

The two-party system fails to represent the electorate. Get rid of it. A third party would make our country better but might quickly become susceptible to the same influences that beset the dominant parties now. Multiple parties and independents will serve us better, but they need a path to compete fairly. 

Campaign finance reform, ranked choice voting, removing party affiliations from ballots, and eliminating the primaries are all measures that will serve the goal of eliminating the zero-sum game of partisan politics. That, in turn, would give leaders the opportunity to focus on what they should be considering: issues like the border crisis, taxes, the federal deficit, and healthcare. 

The parties and their broadcast minions will screech from high heaven that a vote for an independent candidate will tip the balance away from the lesser of two evils and will mean the end of our ‘democracy.’ If our only two candidates are Trump and Biden, then we have already failed as voters.  

Parading around two aged presidential wannabes who most Americans do not support anyway is an insane waste of money. But the donors are willing to pay for leverage over whoever wins office. Unlike the federal government, the sharks expect a return on their investments.  

Conservatives like yours truly will argue that RFK Jr. is too far left. But the will to break the corporate stranglehold on policy and elections is at the heart of conservative reform. Liberals will regurgitate the stale jargon of undermining the lesser of two evils. That is nonsense perpetuated by narrow-minded newscasts whose advertising lifeblood comes from Big Pharma. Our president should be our choice. It is not too late. Kennedy can win. 

All three candidates are easily disparaged with minimal investigation. Our politicians are very rarely our best people. The two-party system guarantees that. A fair and representative process is of greater importance to America than the proposed policies of one presidential administration that is by law balanced by Congress and the Supreme Court. We should believe in what our system of government was designed to be. Through that prism, Bobby Kennedy is our best candidate for president.

For more Rooster Writing check out Politics and Policy from an Independent Idiot: https://a.co/d/fiWjFib.