America’s two-party system - consisting of these two specific parties as they have regressed - sucks. Each party is beholden to moneyed interests and each delivers a type of chaos.
America’s roots of dysfunction run as deep as the first days of the republic when founding documents said all are created equal, but actions of those in charge indicated otherwise. Yet this country progressed.
America never was great so long as: slavery not only existed, but was protected by The Constitution; women had few rights and were not mentioned in The Constitution; and the indigenous peoples were starved when not outright killed, and their lands taken.
America was not great even after: slavery ended - only to be followed by decades of discrimination; women got the vote, but found other rights hard to get; and the indigenous peoples still starved, though there were fewer to outright kill and their lands were gone.
America caught a glimpse of greatness in 1954 when Brown v Board of Education killed the farce of “separate but equal”; in 1973 women gained more control over their bodies, and their lives, with Roe v Wade; and the indigenous peoples were understood to have been screwed.
America began to achieve greatness when: in Vietnam, we stopped the military-industrial complex with our free press and free speech; laws against pollution stopped rivers from burning and the orange skies over cities once more turned blue and breathable.
America’s two-party system is haunted by slavery. The South was “solid” for the Democratic Party from the end of the Civil War until the 1960s because the GOP was identified with Reconstruction.
America’s road to greatness developed craters and impediments with the GOP’s so-called Southern Strategy whereby the GOP would pander to elements of white racism and capture the electors’ votes and Congressional seats previously (virtually) conceded to the Dems.
America’s two major political parties had liberal and conservative wings until LBJ signed into law the Civil Rights and the Voting Rights acts. LBJ’s prediction that the Democrats had lost the South for a generation was an understatement.
America’s two major political parties bear similarities, but quite different in scope. The Dems’ chaos of debate and disagreement is (somewhat) like that of Star Trek’s Federation of Planets. The GOP’s is like that of Romulans. The vessels of each are fueled by the dilithium crystals of campaign cash.
America’s two-party system last hung in limbo from 1840 to 1865. We cannot afford to write one party off as being the property of reactionary forces. Not all Hoosiers who identify as GOP approve of dt or those around him.
As of this writing 17 people are formally filed with the Indiana Secretary of State, as candidates for the May 5 GOP primary for Indiana’s Fifth Congressional District: Kent Abernathy, Andrew Bales, Rev Micah Beckwith, Steve Braun (who has suspended his campaign), Carl Brizzi, Allen R Davidson, Chuck Dietzen, Beth Henderson, Matthew Hook, Matthew Hullinger, Mark Jay, Kelly Mitchell, Danny Niederberger, Victoria Spartz, Russell H Stwalley, Victor Wakley, and I.
By law and the Rules of the Indiana Republican State Committee, Inc., I am a Republican in good standing and eligible to run in the primary. My primary voting history is a matter of public record. Until the May 2019 primary, I always had requested a Democratic Party ballot.
In 2010 people in the “tea party’ movement crossed over to take over the GOP. Turnabout is fair play. I would ask any 5th District Republican, or any other voter in the 5th, opposed to the GOP as it has become to vote for me.
My name is Mark Small. I am a GOP candidate from the nomination for U.S. House District 5. I am pro-choice, pro-environment, anti-war and anti-dt. We need to put America back on the road to greatness. I approve of this blog. Hell, I wrote it.