How the democratic party created it’s voter base
Before FDR, the number of people on the government dole was insignificant. People worked, lived, died and rose to their heights based on their abilities. With the New Deal program however, Roosevelt’s administration created a new class of Americans. Those whose existence depended on frequent, and increasingly generous, handouts from the government. But we must immediately recognize one important fact. The government cannot give you anything because it has nothing to give. The government can only give you what it takes from someone else.
Fastfoward to today. The welfare state has the peculiar property of not only rewarding people for not working (generally, you get better benefits as far as medical care and housing if you are in poverty than if you work a full-time minimum wage job and attempt to be self-sufficient) but this system also encourages them to create a new generation of people who grow up in that system of dependence.
Yes, dependence. Welfare is like a drug and it is much more difficult to wean a society off the governments tit than it is to destroy the craving of a long-time smoker for that next cigarette. Now that the system and its addicts are in place, they are told the only way they can get their next fix is to vote democratic. Because, for some reason, democrats (aka socialists) have no problem taking money from Joe the Plumber and giving it to Bob the Bum. Mary the Mother gets even more money because her womb is a valuable government resource for producing an increasing number of welfare-recipients.
As long as these people are told that they are more valuable when they are unproductive than when they are, they will never choose (as a group) to become productive. In the meantime, more and more money must be stolen from the working class to provide these government “gifts” as the programs are extended ever further to protect the newest “marginalized” or “disadvantaged” class of citizens. Single working mothers. People with disabilities. And now people who bought more house than they could have ever possibly dreamed of being able to realistically afford.
I’m not saying that these people are not inherently valuable, but unless they shoulder their own weight and help support the economy and the government they drag the society down every day.
Nothing is Free
The governments “gifts” come with a price. The price is your vote. If you look at these “under-privileged” and “margenalized” groups you will note they predominately vote for the democratic party. Simple reason? The democrats are the ones giving them the money, telling them that is their right and their due. There is no better way to create anger than to give someone a gift, tell them it is their right, and then take that gift away. The republican party attempts, from time to time, to pass legislation that would reduce the numbers of people getting welfare payments from the government and require them to show progress towards becoming and contributing member of society.
But if you have grown up your entire life being told by half of America that this money belongs to you and then the other half tries to take it away, what do you expect but these people will show up in droves to protect their entitlement. Even the name of these programs is disingenuous. No one is entitled to receive handouts from anyone.
Fastfoward to the Election
There are two primary candidates and a host of minor candidates. OBAMA, the democratic candidate, has told this group of bought voters that they deserve even more money. Not only to they deserve to be supported, they are to be cared for, given free medical attention, and free-rides through college. He will pay for this by stealing even more money from the working class. McCAIN, the republican candidate, will still steal this money from you, he will simply spend it pursuing foreign conquest and imperialism across the globe.
Now look again at the first line of that last paragraph. Did you not a problem with that? If not, congratulations! you’ve been fully indoctrinated into the falsehood that we have a functioning two-party system. The other candidates are not minor, they are major players in our system. When you vote this Nov 4th, you will have three choices. We will give the example from one side of the political fence, but the same rationale can be applied from the opposite direction.
Consider that you are a republican. Your parents and their parents before them have been voting along party lines for as long as you can remember. McCain doesn’t need to give you anything, he knows that he’s already got your vote. He doesn’t need to give you anything because he has already got you. McCain doesn’t really hold out much hope of converting you if you are a party-line democrat because you will likely vote as you have always voted. Many democrats, polarized, go down the ballot and place their tic mark next to everyone with a (D) by their name just like the republicans go for the magical (R).
The only way McCain has a hope to convert you is if you are one of those mystical “undecided” voters. Those who don’t go straight down party lines and find themselves caught between democrat and republican. You don’t agree with either party platform entirely but possibly find attractive points on each side. Your vote is the one McCain, and on the opposite side, Obama, are trying to get. They will make minor concessions to get you to agree more with them than their opposite.
This is where the third party candidates come into play. They represent those people in the middle and form them into decisive voting blocks that are lusted after by the two main contenders for the office of President. They promote the issues and concerns that shape the policies of not only the campaign, but the presidency itself.
After the election, no matter which or the two bobble-heads wins, they constantly look to public approval polls to tell them how well they are doing their job. That they treat the office of the President of the United States as a huge popularity contest should be indicator enough that they don’t deserve it, but that is the current state of our system. Presidents and their administrations constantly look to these polls to see whether or not they should veto or sign a particular piece of legislation not because they are concerned with representing the people, but because they want to be re-elected and to help their party remain in power.
The swing on the campaigns is very like the swing in these approval polls. The hard line democrats will seldom approve of a republican president and a republican president is fairly well assured of the approval of his job by his own party. Again they go after the center ground, that minority of people who sit between the political poles and scream to be heard so they won’t be forgotten in the muck of our political process.
If you want your vote to count, cross the party lines. Take a look at the issues that are important to you and take the time and effort to determine which candidates hold on those issues with you. Abortion isn’t an excuse to vote for every republican that comes up, many democrats are pro-life. Entitlement programs aren’t an excuse to vote democrat as there happen to be republicans who think that is the future of our country. By crossing those lines and voting for either the republicans, democrats, libertarians, constitutionalists, or green party candidates that best represent your vote, you give the future POTUS a better idea of where our nation is politically.
The Big Picture
We are not a nation of red and blue states, but a mish-mash of purple. Our political system and our elected officials should represent this fact. The US vs THEM mentality that a two-party system creates has caused enough damage to our country, let this be the year that Washington DC realizes the WE are an incredibly diverse nation with people of all religious and political leanings and affiliations that cannot be accurately pigeon-holed into a (D) or (R) system. We need an (US).