Tom Kawczynski - Off the Record

I think my days of being a Republican are coming to an end.  There are a few reasons for this, but an analogy first:  Sometimes, you find yourself liking a team where maybe the franchise isn't your favorite, but there are some players you admire.  At this point, that is a fair description of how I feel about the Republicans, where I have many friends, but I am coming to see that the party itself is as much the issue as anything.

The system is broken.  We live in a nation where people care as much about who is saying something as what is being said.  Politicians are separated by the people they are supposed to represent behind layers of bureaucrats, lobbyists, functionaries, aides, and donors.  Whether you're a Democrat or Republican, this is equally true and to my mind of thinking, it is equally wrong.

People join parties because they expect a certain set of policy views to be adopted upon successful election.  Leaving aside for the moment whether or not I think blanket platforms are a good idea, the one thing I have certainly observed is that people are not getting what they voted for from either side.

On the Republican side, the national committees for both the House and Senate, recognizing that people are unhappy with a Democratic government controlling all branches of the government, know basically any Republican can win and they are choosing the most inoffensive, unencumbered by ideas, system hacks that they can find.  With contempt for the grassroots that is fueling this possibility, the Beltway insiders rely upon fear for the other party to drive desperate voters to more of the same.

Even Democrats must be disappointed.  Obama was elected with the promise of many things, of being a transformational candidate, but what is the reality:  He is someone who has supported massive federal spending, much of it going to huge corporations, and looks clueless in handling a major war abroad that continues to spiral out of control.  This may sound like heresy to some, but how different is that really than what the much reviled "Dubya" was doing?

To my eyes, not much.  The reason for this is that money and the entrenched interests that can afford to populate K Street run this nation with little regard for the people who elect officials, because they know they can.  They know that Democrats will vote out of fear of Republicans, and vice-versa, but they get what they want, running off with the bank while we tear ourselves apart as a nation over social issues.

If we are to survive, I believe this must change.  I know that neither party has the heart to do, but I hope that we find a way as people to make something better, and to fix this system.  I do not believe the people involved are all bad (though there are some), but rather that it is a self-perpetuating parasite that needs to be demolished.

In the weeks ahead, I will share some of my ideas about how this could happen.