Requiem for Non-Partisan Politics

It is with a heavy heart that I confirm my observations of the past two decades -- the death of non-partisan politics is official.  Time of death, 8:00 pm EST, November 8, 2008.  The election of our 44th President, Barack Obama, signaled the beginning of the end of non-partisanship and the election eight years later of Donald Trump dropped the last shovel-full of dirt on its grave.

Before I explain my reasoning, let me say that I rarely publicly delve into politics online, since I am primarily using my social media presence to market my poetry, novels, blogs and photography.  Being seen as a Trump-lover or Trump-hater does me no good, nor did I love or hate Obama.  Any of these could alienate half my target audience.  In addition, I am not a political expert nor do I desire to become one.  However, I am a human being and an American, and what has happened in US politics is disheartening.  

I am not Republican nor Democrat as neither have enough "planks" in their platforms to represent my feelings and beliefs.  These planks, or political ideals, used to be decided upon by each party's constituents.  That is no longer the case, as only ten states still caucus, the now-archaic method of choosing political party nominees and platform planks.  Interestingly, back when Washington State held caucuses, I was up for election to become a Republican delegate and I lost that election because I couldn't truthfully state that I could vote for faith-healer and 700 Club profiteer Pat Robertson if he were to become Washington's presidential nominee.  Robertson did win that nomination but in no other states besides Washington, so that was a waste of Washington's electoral votes.

A party's platform is now determined by the candidates themselves, and they pander to and receive funding from the groups and Political Action Committees (PAC's and Super-PAC's) who are promoting any particular opinion.  For example, the religious right has several organizations who are dedicated to overturning Roe v. Wade and will give large amounts of money and other backing to any candidate that promises to move that ideal forward once elected.  There are just about as many groups and PAC's who espouse the concept of "women's right to choose" and equally fund the candidates who promise to fight any attempt of overturning that landmark decision.  Polls regularly show that 65-69% of Americans want the decision to stand, but since there are only two parties equally funded for and against the court decision, there will continue to be a deadlock.  Despite ramifications for or against, this is an example of how most political ideals have fared since non-partisan politics died. 

That's why there hasn't been political negotiation or crossing of party lines except in rare cases.  Today's politicians were elected with a huge number of ideals to champion and almost no vote is on a topic outside of those promises.

Alas, because I have now explained that I try to be politically non-committed in public, I'll probably be ridiculed from both sides of the aisle. 

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