Partisan
politics pummel America, Americans
Sean
Cocca
Partisan
politics is killing America. We are a nation
of Democrats and Republicans and, by God,
you had better be a member of one of those
two parties if you wish to affect any real
change in America. This two-party system
has so polarized the country I fear we
may never recover.
Lately this has become far more apparent.
President George W. Bush’s last two Supreme Court nominations were both
highly contested by the Democratic Party. While John Roberts’ nomination
was confirmed by the Senate 78-22, some of the Democratic Party’s most
hard-line members still voted against him even though he was one of the most
qualified nominees in recent history. These included Sen. Hillary Clinton,
D-N.Y., Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Sen. Barbara Boxer,
D-Calif., Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del.
More controversial was Bush’s second nomination, Samuel Alito, whose
confirmation fell almost completely down party lines. His confirmation, 58-42,
was the one of the closest in the last century, second only to Clarence Thomas,
who was confirmed 52-48.
Both of these men’s nominations were highly contested by the Democratic
Party because of the nominees’ strong conservative viewpoints. They did
not want to place anyone on the bench of the Supreme Court who did not agree
with their political ideals, regardless of his or her qualifications or experience.
For other examples, one only has to look to the debate over border enforcement
to see this problem in action.
The Sensenbrenner Bill, which, among other things, sought to strengthen the
borders and criminalize illegal immigration, was passed in the House of Representatives
239-182, with only 36 Democrats supporting the final version of the bill, according
to CNN.com. The debate over the Senate’s version of this bill raged on
for weeks, with each party entrenching itself along the familiar sides of the
issue — Democrats for illegal immigration, Republicans against it. Only
a very few members of either party have braved crossing over to the other side,
and the ones who have, like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., draw staunch criticism
from their former allies.
It seems any person, group or legislation that wishes to gain the support of
one of the parties must first agree in principle with the viewpoints of that
party, and vice-versa.
If you are a Democrat, you are liberal and support civil liberties, legalized
abortion, gun control, social programs like Medicare and social security, and
the environment. If you are a Republican, you are conservative and support
minimal government and reduced spending. You value individualism. You are in
favor of the death penalty and against gun control.
These are your options, and you must choose wisely, for while the true party
will bring you life, the false party will take it from you.
This is what we are left with in America. We have two vastly different parties
in terms of ideology, and there is little hope in reconciling them. We are
forced to make a difficult choice between two people who tell us the other
is wrong and they are right. We are forced to decide which is the lesser of
two evils because no single candidate perfectly reflects our own personal beliefs.
This is not democracy. When the government tells its people what their options
are, it is called tyranny. In a true democracy, the people dictate to the government
how they want the country run. This is not the case in this country.
From the very beginning of this great nation, our battles have been for democracy
and the right to govern ourselves. Now, we rely on political parties to determine
what values and ideals the country honors. This must end, and the only way
that can happen is to vote.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness
depends upon the character of the user.” Show your character in the next
election. Tell the government your will should be done, not the will of some
political party. Make sure we keep Abraham Lincoln’s promise in the Gettysburg
Address that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall
not perish from the Earth.
Sean Cocca is a senior journalism major and the news editor of the Daily
Forty-Niner.
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