Over the last two decades, I have mostly voted REPUBLICAN.
‘Cause, sickeningly, the other side has been hijacked by socialists that don’t tolerate facts, individual achievement, or freedom of expression.
It’s a nauseous ‘Us vs Them’ 2-party system I have chosen (not been forced) to participate in.
Yet, still… I don’t succumb to a set ‘one or the other’ label. As, for example, the mindset that reeks of “Yeah… I’m in now, You got my vote this time around (or again). Now, lets party together for life!”
I’ve been conservative on most things. Liberal on others.
The conviction of a centrist (if there is such a thing?)
But, bottom-line, there has never been a self-appointed LIBERTARIAN I haven’t liked. The overall mindset of “you do you; I’ll do me!” (i.e. Live and Let Live) is an endearing one.
One that, in most ways, drives my own way of living. One that I also recognize causes a lot of finger-waging at that level of self-interest.
But, if the LIBERTARIAN way ever got to be a viable POLITICAL PARTY (in lieu of just a way of BE-ing), I’m not so sure how that would turn out.
As French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil put it:
“Every political party is totalitarian… without exception. Political parties are little more than machines to generate blind, collective passions. The highest function of any political party is to supersede individual thought.
That is simply what they do — and how they get things done. All political parties hold one end sacred above all: To grow themselves infinitely, without any conception of ‘how big is big enough?‘.”
And, she’s right. That’s the way the ball bounces.
That sets the reasoning for why I’m not into a “collective” / hive mindset. Or, being pigeon-holed into a group (i.e. “party”) way of thinking; one that is SET in its ways.
One that won’t, or can’t, stay open-minded to conscious debate and understanding of the so-called “other side!”
A foundation of maximized freedom and minimized government seems pretty damn reasonable.
In other words, I also don’t desire to be the effect of somebody else’s cause. Rather, I desire to BE the cause for everything in my own life.
With that focused self-interest (which doesn’t mean, by proxy, NOT giving a shit about others), collectively we the Peeps can enforce Equality of Opportunity.
Of…’Outcome’?
Not so much. It’s a fantasy.
I’m not into extreme conservatives trying to rule what happens in my bedroom. Nor am I interested in having some collective Robin hood entity (Socialist-democrats?) be in my pockets!
Where’s that leave me?
Maybe right down the MIDDLE, for now, where I (and I alone) have made the CHOICE to be.
Matt Kibbe, in his book DON’T HURT PEOPLE, boils it down to:
* Don’t hurt people: Free people just want to be left alone, not hassled or harmed by someone else with an agenda or designs over their life and property.
* Don’t take people’s stuff: America’s founders fought to ensure property rights and our individual right to the fruits of our labors.
* Take responsibility: Liberty takes responsibility. Don’t sit around waiting for someone else to solve your problems.
* Work for it: For every action there is an equal reaction. Work hard and you’ll be rewarded.
* Mind your own business: Free people live and let live.
* Fight the power: Thanks to the Internet and the decentralization of knowledge, there are more opportunities than ever to take a stand against corrupt authority.
To empower the centrist views, instead of the lunatic fringe, we need a slight change to our voting system.
One person, one vote is great but we should be able to vote for or against any candidate on the ballot.
I believe , currently, many people vote for a distasteful choice (A) because they are in fact voting against the other more distasteful choice (B).
People vote for the 3rd party ideas, while most of the rest of the voters are voting against the perceived horror of which ever “mainstream” party they fear the most.
This method would likely force the dems and the reps to pay attention to the ideas that cause the 3rd party ideas to gain traction and to govern more from the middle.
Appreciate you, Pete, for stopping by here with that observation. I think you’re spot-on with that idea that there would be much, much more interest in a “centrist” candidate if, and only if, we voters know they / we had a fighting chance in hell to get that non-dem / non-rep candidate in office. This 2-party system in the USA is, indeed, ripe for overhaul.