After the Party
Well, I've pretty much had it with being a Democrat. I have no big speeches to make, but I just can't take it anymore.
I have looked in the past at some of the third party options available, and nothing much appealed to me. So how does one go about creating and registering for a new third party in this country?
I'm not really interested in creating any kind of movement, or running any actual candidates. I don't mind if I am the only member of the party. I just don't want to have the nauseating label "Democrat" next to my name anymore, but would prefer to identify myself in some way other than the lame "independent".
I would like to write some sort of manifesto or platform, sign up for my own party, and then move on with life. Perhaps the party will be more of an "apolitical party" than a political party, just a personal means of expressing my sense of utter alienation from the culture and political life of the United States.
I have looked in the past at some of the third party options available, and nothing much appealed to me. So how does one go about creating and registering for a new third party in this country?
I'm not really interested in creating any kind of movement, or running any actual candidates. I don't mind if I am the only member of the party. I just don't want to have the nauseating label "Democrat" next to my name anymore, but would prefer to identify myself in some way other than the lame "independent".
I would like to write some sort of manifesto or platform, sign up for my own party, and then move on with life. Perhaps the party will be more of an "apolitical party" than a political party, just a personal means of expressing my sense of utter alienation from the culture and political life of the United States.
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Dan. I suspect your feeling is increasingly widely shared. Personally, I find party political stuff difficult lately - though it's been at the center of my life for 30 years. And this even though I've spent much of my life in systems with 3 parties. And 4. And 5. Because even with all that... I hate having their names next to mine.
And with good reason. There's a level of repulsiveness to what is happening today that is quite striking. People can say it was equally bad before... or babble about a rebirth of FDR, but... let's face it. This is Eyes Wide Shut talk. And while I'm hoping, the evidence just isn't there. What's our great hope today? That the economy might go back to the good old days of 2006... And foreign policy to the grand era of 2000. Argh.
So, yeah. Write your own.
When asked my own political affiliation these days, I usually just say "earthling." Oh, I'm not so moronic as to think there aren't differences - there are. And even within these constraints, good things can still be done. With the Democrats in the US and Labour in the UK and the NDP in Canada and so on. But boy... it's limited. They're limited.
So... screw it. Write your own. Funny thing is, I don't think you'll end up on your own. Miguelito and I - fer instance - are fans of Karl Wallinger's band, "World Party." The name being Wallinger's little joke/insight 20 years ago about what was needed. The joke turning out to be just how widespread his view has become.
Just because it's late at night, this is the song I've been all over lately. And the viddy appeals for some reason. ;-) Call Me Up.
"Been a long long long long time, since I heard something that I really love." Hasn't it just, eh? Have a good night, Dan.
May 17, 2009 3:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
I went to your link and the beginning of it looked like a place I stayed at a few years ago with Scout.
Lately I feel more a part of Canada. The last couple days it was like 31 degrees with wind chills of 20. Ha!!
Other than that, you guys have your coalitions and we have ours. We just happen to divide everything into two parties.
But right now, I do not wish someone to call me up when its over. Hell, I will probably be dead anyway.
I love watching this unfold, this New Administration.
We shall see.
May 17, 2009 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm all for losing both parties and having Indie our label and slogan and party.
Maybe then we could finally get Congress to break it's gridlock and get something the hell done.
May 17, 2009 4:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
It says a lot that I have yet to be pleasantly surprised by anything. Mildly disappointed to majorly disappointed all the way to furiously outraged; but not pleasantly surprised.
It's discouraging
May 17, 2009 10:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
CVille, that pretty much sums up my feelings following the election of the first US President whose election I actively campaigned for. I thought BHO's election might actually make a difference in the way Washington operates. If so, then not only does the worm turn slowly, but it has not yet begun to register the need to turn at all.
May 17, 2009 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Until we start voting in primary elections, neither party will truly represent our interests.
Doesn't matter what you call yourself in the meantime. An average of 18% turnout for primary elections and under 50% for off-year general elections ensures a continuation of the status quo.
We The People need to get off our dead asses before anything will change.
May 17, 2009 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Another reason that is a good idea is that it would cost incumbents money to fight primary challenges whether we win or not. The only thing these folks understand is money.
May 17, 2009 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Primaries should be primaries -- not the more easily stampeded and manipulated caucuses.
As to the lack of pleasant surprises above --- told ya!
May 17, 2009 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think caucuses have their place. I like the Texas system of a primary that is more easily accessible and a caucus for those who want a more "town meeting" feel to the process. The way they apportion electoral votes seems pretty fair. Either way, until we have 70% or more turnout for every election, we will continue to be led by special interest voters who always hit the polls.
May 17, 2009 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
In Australia they have compulsory voting. Every eligible person must go to the polling booth.
This always makes me go, "Hmmmmm." Depending on the mood I'm in, sometimes I think it would be a great idea, and sometimes I don't. Yeah, it would be great if the lazies would be required to become involved in their own political representation. Then again, would a compulsory voting law infringe on individual freedom rights? Then I wonder, would they even have those rights if they were voted away by people with less than noble designs? Goes 'round in circles.
May 17, 2009 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems to me a terrible idea. People who don't care enough to vote also don't care enough to become informed on issues; they can stay home as far as I'm concerned. I can imagine someone renting a bus, providing a hot meal and taking a busload of people who could care less to the polls, and then that busload voting for whomever their "benefactor" told them to.
May 17, 2009 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think we have a lack of voter education in this country that has led to a lack of civic pride. It can be seen reflected in all facets of American society, not just pathetic voter turnout. I don't think compulsory voting is the answer, but we need to keep this issue front and center.
I hope what we are witnessing online and elsewhere is a new-found interest in the political process by people previously absent in great numbers. It appears to be a generational shift as well, so perhaps the coming changes will be evolutionary in nature. I remain optimistic given the current trends, but think it will require real effort on the part of people who do vote. I plan on taking one non-primary voting person to every election from now on. I don't think it will take long for people to catch on to the fact that it is called the primary election for a reason.
We need to start calling the general election the secondary election. Maybe that would help.
May 17, 2009 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am not really focused on we the people, Jason. While I agree that there are several ways in which the US power elite is out of step with the voting (and non-voting) public, my disenchantment extends to that non-elite public as well. I am just finding contemporary US political culture - including the media culture, the culture of organized political parties and increasingly most of the blog culture - to be stifling, provincial, oppressively nationalistic, dumbed-down and unimaginative.
I'm increasingly interested in finding ways to network with the participants in what appears to be an emerging global political culture with a global policy orientation. If one travels around the internet and makes a determined effort to leave the US's digital and electronic shores, one quickly finds the signs of this emerging culture everywhere, although most Americas seem unaware of it, and although members of both major parties seem as committed as ever to their introverted and super-nationalistic perspective on events.
In my state of New Hampshire, most affiliated voters belong to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. These are, of course, national parties. People don't belong to some kind of Ye Olde Granite Stater Party. People have commitments to a national agenda, and bring those commitments to bear on the politics of their home state. And in many cases, they are willing to subordinate the interests of their home state to that conception of broader national interest. I'm looking for the same thing now in the relationship between national and international concerns. I would like to belong to an international party with an explicitly international agenda, and properly inform and subordinate my US concerns to that larger agenda.
I want to discuss issues and coordinate efforts with others abroad on such things as structural reforms of the global trade and financial systems; new instruments and agencies for global economic and security governance; population and family planning issues; global environmental issues; global labor and trade organization; efforts to lift hundreds of millions, even billions of the world's people out of poverty, and enable their effective participation in the global economy; combating oppression, fanaticism and ignorance; reforming the global system of energy production and distribution; restricting weapons production and distribution, controlling the flow of small arms and large arms, and promoting demilitarization and the shrinking of national armed forces, etc. Thinking about and working on these issues in a rational, far-sighted and responsive way requires a perspective that focuses on the single, interconnected global system, and makes the overall well-being of that system the primary focus of one's moral concerns.
I don't believe either US party is capable of moving beyond the broad, bipartisan American commitments to sentimental ultra-nationalism, a corporate-dominated, rightist economic model and a general commitment to the imperial project. Recall that Obama ran on an explicitly restorationist agenda: a commitment to "restore US leadership and prestige". This project has from the beginning had little appeal to me apart form the fact that Obama would pursue policies that are likely to be an improvement over Bush.
I lately think Obama has become too enamored of his role as commander-in-chief, and has developed a big-time man-crush on soldiers and the military. All that saluting and "Mr. President" this-and-that has gotten to him. He has generals up the wazoo, and has bought into their vision of the US global agenda, an agenda which differs very little apart form tone and public relations blather from the agenda of the Bush administration. He's in love with the empire now, which is not that surprising, I suppose, since American in this era is still an imperial power, and we just elected him emperor.
May 17, 2009 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Global change starts at home. The political parties in this country are a reflection of piss-poor voter participation. I was as guilty as anyone else for most of my adult life. It wasn't until the last few years that I started paying attention and getting involved.
Decades of devolution and disintegration won't be changed over night.
I am not so certain Obama be judged so soundly this soon into his presidency. I wouldn't say I am satisfied with all his decisions, but I also wouldn't say he has been compromised to this extent. I also didn't expect him to change a system decades in the making in his first hundred days. He inherited a huge, multidimensional system that has been corrupted and calcified by a multitude of powerful special interests. It may take a few years to even begin the process of unraveling that rat's nest. He may not get really bold until his second term. Or he may never be bold and simply disappoint for a couple of terms.
Regardless of what our "leaders" in Washington do or don't do, We The People need to put our foot in their asses on a constant basis. We need to care enough to use one of a dozen ways to contact our representatives. We must turnout for every election and toss out the deadbeats, making room for innovation and bold leadership. We have an existing system that must be managed by educated citizens who think globally and act locally. That done, we can start figuring out our place in the larger worldwide effort.
I don't think we will ever be a positive part of the growing consciousness you speak of until we get our own house in order.
May 17, 2009 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, maybe we the people are part of the problem. If more of us participated, would things get better? Maybe. Maybe not.
All I know is that everywhere I go in both the new media and old media I encounter people called "Democrats" saying various things, and most of it leaves me cold. I don't feel like they are speaking either to me or for me, or that their fundamental attitudes and concerns are my fundamental attitudes and concerns. Yes, the national leadership is a big part of my problem, but so is a lot of the more rank and file discourse. I just don't appear to speak the language any more. It feels like a church I used to belong to but don't any more.
This is a very personal thing, and I don't expect a lot of people to feel the same way. But I need to get out, start afresh and chart a different course. If it was a realistic option for me, I might move to another country.
May 17, 2009 2:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I totally get you. My response was to pick the most fucked up of the two parties and try to change it from within.
The inability for Americans of all political persuasions to speak rationally and dispassionately about such fundamental problems drives me nuts all the time. It is the reason why moving somewhere overseas still comes up at the Miller house on at least a weekly basis.
I think as long as we keep picking at this Gordian not of Chicken and Egg dilemmas we will eventually talk (and scheme and plan and execute) our way out of this mess.
May 17, 2009 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm with you Dan! Since the Texans can get away with their obsession with secession, maybe we should learn a lesson and call ourselves the Canada Party. Peace. Healthcare. Solvent banks.
May 17, 2009 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've been coming to this same conclusion Dan. The Independent label isn't doing it for me either. I appreciate the designation 'apolitical party'. It seems apparent that the political parties are just arms of vested economic interests with slightly different flavor choices on the surface as a means of registering a level of superficial self identification with the electorate. Perhaps something like a 'Bokonon' Party is called for to shine a light on the absurdity of placing our national and world aspirations in the ability of the current two party system to actually deliver 'change we can believe in'.
May 17, 2009 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
"The hand that stocks the drug stores rules the world.
Let us start our Republic, with a chain of drug stores, a chain of grocery stores, a chain of gas chambers, and a national game. After that we can write our Constitution."
May 17, 2009 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jesus once said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's". Which Bokonon paraphrased, "Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn't have the slightest idea what's really going on."
Then there's my personal favorite Bokononism: "It's never a mistake to say good-bye"
May 17, 2009 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hear you. I have generally been an independent however in order to effectively participate in the caucuses in my state where one's voice can actually be heard, I have registered as a democrat. I don't know if you have caucuses in your state but I like caucuses. I learned about my caucus process from Dennis Kucinich, his campaign educated me. Then I and others wrote to Obama about what we learned there and I think it contributed to his doing the same in his campaign.
Our caucus is a real live experiences of bodies, faces, and people talking. In 2004 I made it from my precinct to the state as a delegate and we voted things onto the platform like nuclear nonproliferation, educational reforms, all sorts of things that we realized would most likely NOT make it onto the national platform. You see, we were allowed to offer amendments on the floor if we got enough signatures. People were surprised that day as we left about what we accomplished and the values we apparently shared. Party regulars tried to ignore our voice votes and declare them differently because they apparently didn't like what was happening but we just declared a point of order and made them do a full count when they did this. It was an incredible experience. In 2008 I could have been a delegate but we had so many young people show up at the caucus that I encouraged a younger woman to go as long as she committed to going all the way to national if the opportunity arose.
I wish there were more parties that I wanted to participate in, but any party, any democracy needs people willing to take action and participate more no matter what. Our country overall has become less educated, is ill informed, and somewhat lazy. More activism all around would keep everyone on their toes.
I think we all need to ask ourselves what we truly want. If it is worth having, it is worth fighting for.
May 17, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Koyaanisqatsi
http://www.hulu.com/watch/27800/koyaanisqatsi
May 17, 2009 2:50 PM | Reply | Permalink