Let's Get Serious about What America Needs in a Presidential Candidate

Everyone is - talking -preaching - shouting - about the state of American politics. The consensus is that something needs to be done to break the logjam caused by polarized party politics in Washington.

Most often, this criticism is followed by advice along the lines of - get out in front and lead, Mr. President - forget the Tea Party ‘extremists’ and lead from the GOP center point, Mr. Boehner - abandon your left flank,  Democratic Senate, and work with the House instead of stonewalling every move it makes.

When frustration sets in with these ideas, the cry goes out that gerrymandering of electoral districts has polarized Congress by making most districts safe either for the far left or the far right. Would that be a signal for the Supreme Court to flex its muscle, much as it did in the 1960s and 1970s in order to make it possible for Black voters to have a real voice in the electoral process? I haven’t heard anyone suggest this yet, but it’s bound to surface eventually.

Just what is the problem? My guess is that it doesn’t have much to do with any of the above.

The problem is that both the Democratic and Republican Parties are caught in a time warp.

The Democrats continue to believe, and act upon, the 1903-1950 world in which they became a powerful force in American politics for the first time.

The symptoms?

Unending Democratic support for ‘big government’ reflected in huge welfare programs meant to protect their traditional constituencies - the working poor whom they saved with the unionization of most large industries, big medical programs to help underprivileged Americans who were cut out of the economic system, and creating cradle-to-grave protection in the form of a myriad of social programs for Blacks and other racial and ethnic minorities.  I hasten to add that these groups voted and continue to vote Democratic, so why should the Party change? You wouldn’t if you were an elected Democrat with a gerrymandered district meant to save you from any real opposition.

But, let’s not forget the Republicans, who continue to believe, and act upon, almost the same world - 1910-1950, during which they were the overarching political power to reckon with.

The symptoms?

Unending support for ‘big’ business, financial institutions and university-educated Americans whose economic success depended upon GOP support of the free enterprise system to continue their rise to greater affluence. The GOP’s battle was with the Democratic program that threatened to take from the GOP-base taxpayers to give to the Democratic-base smaller-taxpayers.

But, today, America is not the America of the 1930s or the 1950s or even of the 1980s of the Reagan era.

Today, America is better educated, with a much broader base of university graduates. America is a technologically driven economy whose success depends not on brawn but on brains. America is not a have-vs-have-not system, but a flattened social mesh of Caucasians, Blacks, Asians and Hispanics. Most of these groups know how to look out for themselves today - get an education, move to find the jobs, save for the future, and, above all, try to keep the government from taking too much of what they make so that they can provide for themselves and their families. Racial problems still exist, but if you remember Selma, it is entirely different now. Furthermore, Blacks and ethnic minorities are rapidly becoming the majority in the USA.

So, we are watching two dinosaurs of parties search for solutions to problems that no longer exist (Obamacare may be the best example of this, along with the Democratic effort to stamp out financial entrepreneurship and the GOP’s effort to enforce the sex-related moral codes of a prior generation).

That is why, in my opinion, there are more and more frequent calls for a third party. It is not that Americans are deliberately trying to destroy either the Democrat or Republican Party. It’s just that these parties no longer respond to reality on the ground.

And, that is why we need a new voice with a new American rallying cry that resonates in the sinews of today’s America. The person could be Democrat or Republican, and with more inherent danger attached, someone from a new third party, but America needs someone who understands what she really is and what she needs to survive in the 21^st century.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen that person yet.