WHY WE NEED FOUR POLITICAL PARTIES

BY JON NELSON

If there is anything that seems obvious in today’s political system, it is that we have reached a crisis of unprecedented severity.  We have a former president who has done more damage to our country than any other individual in our history, and yet the majority of his fellow party members, both inside and outside of Congress, continue to support him.  Surely, this indicates that no compromise is possible with these people; January 6, 2021 conclusively demonstrated that.  Not content with attacking the Democratic party, the theo-fascists in the Republican party are becoming more and more hostile to the few moderates left in their party; many are openly hostile to democracy itself.  These people treat anyone of different views as enemies to be vanquished and they want complete control of all branches of government.  There is no possibility of compromise with these people as they want the elimination of all political rivals.  This shows that there needs to be two right-of-center political parties to satisfy all of today’s Republicans.

Meanwhile, the Democratic party is on the horns of a dilemma of its own in that the few real progressives are frustrated with the majority party members who still believe in reaching out to the Republican party in the futile hope of reaching compromises and re-uniting the country.  As with the Republicans, splitting the Democratic party into two components should satisfy both groups.

My solution to the current political crisis is to have not two but FOUR political parties, as follows (actual names for the parties are my own and are of course open for discussion; my terms here are only indicative of where they stand ideologically):

1)  Progressive Liberal Party:  This group would comprise the most outspoken leaders in the progressive movement, and will be completely unafraid to alienate any and all Republicans if necessary.  This is not to say that they wouldn’t be willing to work with any Republican moderates who are willing to compromise, but the extremists would be ignored.  This new party would put the interests of people and the planet first rather than  billionaires and mega-corporations and would take steps to expose the theo-fascists on the right for what they are.  This party would be the one fighting corruption at every level of government, at the federal, state, and local levels.  They would be open and honest in their dealings with the public.  This group understands the fact that, as the only animal with advanced reasoning ability, it is up to us humans to use reason in all things, including faith-based religion.  They will know that faith and reason are irreconcilable opposites and thus stand firmly behind the principle of separation between church and state.  The flow of monies going to religious groups would be halted and the tax exemption the churches currently enjoy would stop altogether.  There would be no persecution of religious people, but they would not be allowed to dominate political discourse and formulate public policies.  The Progressive Liberal party would know that if we are to survive as a species, it is up to us to fix our planet and that no god or savior is going to do it for us.  Elizabeth Warren would be an example of this party.

2)  The Corporate Democratic Party:  As the Republican party has moved further and further to the right of the political spectrum, today’s Democratic party has moved further and further to the center.  Because of this, it has become increasingly difficult to learn what they really stand for.  While they paint themselves as uniters, they fail to recognize that the theo-fascists aren’t the least bit interested in uniting with anyone.  In addition, there is no way to unite the views of most Americans with those of the theo-fascists who overwhelmingly dominate the Republican party.  These Democrats are running scared: they are afraid to call a spade a spade and want to work with people who don’t want anything to do with them.  They hold out olive branches to people who throw it back in their face and then, like an abused dog, come back for more.  They will let extremists in the Republican party say and do just about anything to avoid “rocking the boat.”  They are reluctant to espouse any of the things Democrats have traditionally stood for and seem to shrink in terror from being called “liberals” as if it is a curse word.  “Let’s all try to get along” might well be the mantra of this party and, while this is certainly a noble thought, it is completely impractical in today’s fractured political environment.  This party will continue to be subservient to Big Business and try to pass legislation that doesn’t offend  them or the Republicans.  Nancy Pelosi would be a good example of what typifies this party.

3)  The Traditional Republican Party:  This is not the Republican party of today, rather it resembles the Republican party of more than fifty years ago.  They are few and far between in today’s Republican leadership, which has been taken over by the extremists who now form the overwhelming majority of the party.  This party would have members that can sometimes be worked with and have at least some principles.  Although they will be wrong on most issues, they will abhor extremism and racism.  This would be a party of someone like Richard Nixon who, while hardly a moderate, at least had the gumption to scorn fascist Gerald L.K. Smith’s support for him by saying: “There is no place in the Republican party for the race merchandisers of hate like Gerald L.K. Smith.”  There are almost no Republicans today who would EVER utter such a rebuke of a fellow Republican, with the possible exception of Liz Chaney and one or two others.  Of my four proposed parties, I imagine this one would be the least popular, at least initially.  This party, the traditional “conservative” party, would actually CARE about conserving our planet’s natural resources.  This would be in stark contrast to today’s Republicans who are only interested in conserving their jobs and the welfare of their constituents; the planet be damned.  Liz Chaney is an excellent example of this what this party stands for.

4)  The New Fascist Party:  This is what the current Republican party actually is, although no one seems to have the guts to say it.  These people have no moral scruples whatever, no loyalties except to those of like minds, no respect for anyone who dares to disagree with them and no respect for the planet that is our only home.  They want absolute control of government and the elimination of all competition.  The Republican party has morphed into the NFP over a period of nearly half a century.  The line in the sand was drawn when Mitch McConnell announced at the beginning of Barack Obama’s term that he would be focusing exclusively on making him a one-term president.  Nothing was said about serving the people he was elected to serve; it’s all about destroying the opposition.  Donald Trump continued with this line of thinking and took it further than anyone deemed possible.  His attitude was and is: If you don’t agree with me on everything, you are the enemy.  As religious fundamentalists, NFP party members will believe everything their leaders tell them, but only if those leaders unquestioningly tow the party line.  Their avowed enemies are anyone who disagrees with them about anything.  Lies repeated over and over again become revealed truth to them; indeed, they think that because they have faith that a lie is true, that somehow makes it true.  Since their political views, like their religious views, are based on faith rather than reality, there is no way of dissuading them from their beliefs, and it is pointless to try.  They have no respect for the environment and have no hesitation in destroying it and putting everyone’s life in jeopardy while perversely calling themselves “pro-life.”  They insist that a two thousand year old book of mythology contains all the information we need to live our lives by.  Anyone of a different faith (or of differing political views) is their enemy.  Progress is antithetical to these people; many if not most are doing everything in their power to bring about biblical armageddon, the destruction of the world because they share the same ideas that were the hallmark of the Christian Dark Age apologists and truly believe that they will be “raptured” into a better world once they have succeeded in destroying this one.  To them, the destruction of the planet means nothing because in their warped minds, their imaginary savior will descend from the clouds and bring about a paradise for them (and only them) to enjoy for all eternity.  The New Fascist Party should welcome the addition of two new political parties if for no other reason that it will give them two more groups to hate.  Marjorie Taylor Greene is a perfect example of what this party stands for.

Numbers 2 and 4 are the groups in power today; the other two have yet to be formed.  It will be up to dissatisfied party members to create the other two.  Just as today’s two political parties cannot work together, I don’t see numbers 1 and 2 ever working together, likewise for 3 and 4.  It’s time to separate them all and four distinct parties seems to me the best way to handle a situation that has become a threat to our very survival as a nation.  The idea of four parties would be alien to most of today’s Democrat and Republican leaders, but two additional parties would make everyone’s political stances crystal clear.  And, it would eventually make the New Fascist Party a sizable minority because the Progressive Liberal party would expose their errors, lies, hypocrisy and generally evil stances on every issue.

There is nothing in our Constitution preventing us from having more than two political parties; not only is there ample historical precedent for this (the no-nothing party  and the free-soil party from the 1850s are only two of the more memorable examples), there are several other alternate parties today as well.  However, even if they get on the ballot, they never win major elections and thus remain on the fringes of political life.  But I can see these groups becoming even more marginalized as most of their members would find general satisfaction with one of the four parties I propose.

Human nature being what it is, it is doubtful that any of these groups will be free from infighting; even with four political parties there will always be divisive issues that separate party members into factions.  However, these factions will not be at each other’s throats as they are today; they will still have enough common interests to keep from being utterly frustrated and disillusioned with each other, as so many Americans today seem to be with the current political climate.

January, 2021