Sunday, August 23, 2009

Two Party System Failure

This is one of the purest videos I've ever watched. Michael Aranda uses the arguably most common of teenage speech forms, sarcasm, to lay out a simple idea 300 years old: the two party system is tragically flawed. George Washington as well as other founding fathers warned against this system; nonetheless, America, propelled by financial engines since its beginning fell into party system after party system and watched each successor fall as its predecessor had until the current party system we live in today. The problem is plain and is stated as the final message of this video: there are 2 parties, and to each of those party systems one set of ideas concerning everything from health care and education to the legality of how someone might use or change their own body, and while there are two parties, there are over 300 million Americans each with different values, ideals, needs, and desires.
Only the most radical of political minds could argue that they truly believe solidly in all of one party's ideology, yet it seems that somehow all of America has been divided into one of the two categories in some form or fashion. The two party system is actually deeply rooted enough to claim stereotypical status in relation to race which is something that only religion and language have accomplished before this.
When electing a president or any public representative, it is not his r her specific ideals, promises, history, or even personal character that wins him or her the election, but more so the party to which they are patron. Many Americans cast their vote blindly, not even knowing their nominee's face; yet for some, whether or not they are blue or red is enough of an informational basis to make a decision upon. The result of this system is America falling into economic instability and general disbelief in the political process.
It makes sense that a political system is of course necessary, I am in no way advocating anarchy, but if only political appointments were found more honestly or justly then we as a country might be in a greater place among the world. America is disliked by many countries for our insistence on "playing world police," quoted because of its reappearance in many different political blogs on this subject but unfortunately I can not find the original origin, if there truly is one, of this statement and therefore can not give credit to whoever it is due.
If you are to blindly search Google or any other search engine for "America plays world police," you will find that a large contingency finds America's pattern of attempting to affect change in the world wherever our leader at the time sees fit...unappealing to say the least. It is sadly a widely held belief, or so I have come to understand from being a student in public high school, that the political system is in general disliked and that trust and faith in the government has waned severely in a time period of only 50 years. During the 1950's, if a teacher were to ask who in the class dreamed on joining the army or becoming an astronaut, more than half of the boys in the room would stand. Today, it would be a lucky teacher to find more than one per classroom.
The political system as well as its many different responsibilities such as the military have become a joke to much of America. Nothing can be fixed in a matter of days and it is folly to think that any of this could be changed with a single action. In my eyes, though only as informed as media can make them, it seems that if America started taking enough interest in who they were voting for and not whether or not it was a democrat or republican, things would start to change. Our leaders would be stronger, their morals and histories having to be strong to earn their place, and if nothing else, the tensions that exist between democrats and republicans would begin to lessen because as time went by. Political beliefs have become as important and in some cases more important than religious backgrounds. This being a good or a bad thing I will not comment on at this moment.
I blindly brought up the subject of the two party system today while walking among friends and new acquaintances and found that I was not alone even on my own campus with my ideals on this subject. It seems that people feel labeled, and at least for the small piece of my generation I consulted today, they don't like it.

"I believe that the two party system is flawed, and that eventually there will be enough problems to bring necessary change, but for now it seems that it is working at least a little." Alyssa McKay (Georgia Institute of Technology Student)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcEuhi7KKHA

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