The two party trap has been in place since the beginning. It used to be that the parties set traps against each other. But today, with the Supreme Court’s endorsement of voter suppression, the rules have changed and the gloves are off. The court’s decision is tantamount to turning the war machine on the people.
In recent decades the bipartisan slugfest has increasingly short-changed the people and their will. Now we are coming up on the final round. It’s not a question of who’s going to land the next punch, it’s a matter of who is going to land the last one.
Each Wants to Be the One in Charge When Democracy Goes Fully Under
Sadly, this appears to be it. This is what the two party trap has become.
Of course there are politicians who have not been corrupted or consumed by wealth and privilege, as well as those who are hopeful to keep riding the existing gravy train. But they are not the driving force.
To not see this strategy, one must ignore the prevailing trends and behaviors. It’s every bit as plausible as an assault on the capitol.
Republicans have made their autocratic agenda clear and it does not include human interests; they are primed to achieve their supremist goal whenever they next win the presidency, the next turn of the crank. With the wildly “conservative” Supreme Court, Republicans will pull the full fascist trigger at their next turn. There’s lots of privileged parties going on tonight.
Democrats squeaked by last time as the desperate lesser-of-evils. This tired democracy-dulling ploy is already raising its ugly head for the next cycle. To keep this piece of their game alive, Democrats delicately do as little as possible.
So with the Democrats, the people get the strategic least. And with Republicans the people get an abject nothing. Here I allude to the commoner masses, not the wealthy controlling minority. The two party trap has repeatedly short-changed the people.
Considerations to Salvage American Democracy (or, how to avoid the final snap of the two party trap)
Ideally, some party sees it for what it is and takes aggressive steps to intervene and correct. Most conveniently this would be one of the two parties, but they have repeatedly shown lack of will and capability to change. They simply don’t see it, or they are good with it. This is the way of unchecked privilege and power.
The Democrats are not showing they can save the day. They hang their hat on business-as-usual, or a return to “normal” that has long since passed by the middle class. Now, in the face of this Supreme Court anti-vote ruling, they know they are living their swan song. Yet even at this dire moment, it is not clear Democrats will do the minimum, which is two things: 1) accept the reality that there is no moderation available that can stave off the end – there is only unyielding extremism that must be addressed; 2) accept that the filibuster has never been anything but an anti-people tool which must give way to take the basic steps to revive America in this pivotal moment.
To have to go with the lesser-of-evils yet again would be caustic insanity. It’s a stretch to see the Democrats duping the pivotal progressives again. But if they pull it off, it will at best be staving off an inevitable collapse, just like last time. Unless of course, they change their ways. There is nothing Democrats couldn’t do if they had the will and the capability.
The Republicans could also change their ways and make progress, but it first involves getting a heart and restoring a soul. Trump is not a cause or an effect of what they are today, but he is an accelerant. He is much less a democracy-killer than McConnell. They can now go apocalyptic faster than any pandemic or rash of mass shootings. As reinforced by the Supreme Court, Republicans are winning with no impetus to change.
It’s like we are out of oil, but we must keep driving the car. GOP extremism no longer tolerates moderation, which takes out bipartisanship. Republicans no longer acknowledge and acquiesce to Democratic ideological priorities, and have lost theirs. The Democrats cannot simply put legislation together and hope Republicans go along with it, willing to thrift out all the meat to get a bit of a bone. Democrats are stuck in a clear defensive quandary – fight or flight.
So, will it be one more turn of the election crank, or two? And will it be one political party standing, or three?
There’s a lot of worry over whether the Voting Rights Act would be of more help to the Republicans or to the Democrats. As if the people are not even there or relevant, and thwarting the restoration of moderation.
Of course there is that ever-present rash of democracy-deterrents like gerrymandering and propaganda, etcetera, all of which deter justice and quality of life. But behind them all, and behind the vitality of the two party trap, is a moral breakdown.
The final answers will be morality driven; positively so, I hope and pray. A genuine, positive, and consistent stance on morals and their importance comes from the Poor People’s Campaign. Their National Call for Moral Revival merits consideration. Maybe it becomes a Poor People’s Party.