DESPERATE TIMES (Part 2): NATIONAL UNITY

Welcome back, Gryphem readers.  Let’s get right to the discussion of our desperate situation and what we can do about it.

I am an ordinary American.  I served in the U.S. Navy, taught history and language arts in public schools, and am the father of six.  I have a love of history, a passion for freedom, and an obsession with integrity.  And as I told you last time, I have an idea.  It is an idea that has the potential to stop the coming catastrophe in its tracks, and change the United States and the world for the better.

Let’s start from the premise that the election of either of the presumptive presidential nominees of the two major political parties would be disastrous for our nation.  If you disagree with this premise, you need read no further.  But if the lack of a competent, ethical candidate at the top of either ticket bothers you, let me remind you of this.  We the American people are not bound by the choices which the major parties set before us.  We do not have to accept a presidential candidate that we do not support, that we do not respect, just because that candidate has been nominated by a political party.  We do not have to choose between the lesser of two evils.  We can opt for something else altogether.  And this time around, we should.

Polls have repeatedly shown that in a general election matchup with the Democratic frontrunner, Governor John Kasich is the only one of the final three Republicans who would win decisively.  Polls have shown that in a general election matchup with the Republican frontrunner, Senator Bernie Sanders is the only remaining Democrat who would win decisively.

In other words, the American people as a whole prefer the candidates who are running second and third to those currently on track to win the nominations.  So why aren’t the parties nominating those candidates? 

Good question.  Think about that while I explain a couple of important things you need to know.

Most Americans don’t realize that the concept of political parties is not in the Constitution.  In fact President George Washington, the only president who was not affiliated with any political party, advised strongly against the formation of political parties.  However, the two-party system has become so firmly entrenched that most of us cannot imagine American government without it.  Fair enough.  But let’s look a little closer.  Did you know that throughout American history the political parties have changed?

The first two American political parties were the Federalists (John Adams) and the Democratic-Republicans (Thomas Jefferson).  The Federalists faded away, the Whigs appeared, and the Democratic-Republicans were transformed into the Democratic Party by President Andrew Jackson.  When the Whigs began to die out, the Republican Party was born.  In only their second presidential election attempt, Republicans managed to win the White House.  They elevated Republican Abraham Lincoln to the presidency where he managed to save the Union and free the slaves.  After the Civil War we settled into a Republican versus Democrat dichotomy that has endured for more than 150 years.

That doesn’t mean the political parties have stayed the same for last century and a half.  On the contrary, the two parties have reinvented themselves several times.  Originally, Democrats were considered the more conservative and Republicans were considered the more liberal of the two parties.  That changed under the New Deal of the 1930s, and also during the Civil Rights reforms of the 1960s.  So American political parties can rise up, fade away, or change with the times.  They have done so repeatedly. 

I believe the profound dissatisfaction that a majority of Americans feel with the current situation indicates that the political parties are overdue for evolution and realignment, or possibly for replacement with new parties that will more closely reflect the opinions and needs of the American people.  It has happened before, and it will happen again.  Perhaps now.

The extremists of the right and the extremists of the left are the ones who drive the agendas of the two major political parties.  Those extremists do not share the values or priorities of the great majority of Americans.  Most Americans are dissatisfied with the frontrunners put forward by angry voters of both parties.  They do not want the intentional angst, the heated rhetoric, the hyperbole, the rudeness, the intolerance, the dangerous divisiveness, or the hatemongering they see on both sides of the political aisle.  Most Americans just want decent, honest, effective government.  The political parties are not only NOT the solution; the political parties stand in the way to prevent a solution.  Each party is allowing its extremist base to force anger and indignation to the fore, blame the other guys in every situation, and seethe about the evils of compromise.  All this prevents us from coming together, forces persons of goodwill to accept this extreme divisiveness or risk being excluded altogether.

Heated rhetoric, disunity and dysfunction may serve the powers that be in the two parties, but they are not in the best interest of the people of the United States of America.  It’s time to call their hand.  It’s time for a Real Change, a change in the political party power structure. 

How courageous are we willing to be?  How far outside the box are we willing to think?  If we are courageous enough, creative enough, amazing things might happen.

In 2016 we are in the midst of a “perfect storm” of voter disillusionment.  Political parties are presenting options not in the best interests of the people, and two candidates with the highest negative ratings since tracking began 30 years ago are the presumptive nominees.  If ever the Republican-Democrat juggernaut needed be toppled in favor of something that more Americans want and need, This Is The Time.

The majority of Americans would prefer to replace the presumptive nominees with persons of ability and integrity.  I am suggesting just that.  I am suggesting a third alternative to the divisive alternatives of left and right.

Among the final five candidates, two have risen above the partisan rhetoric and the politics of destruction.  Two of the candidates are persons of compassion, ability, and most of all, integrity.  Each of these is the kind of person most Americans want as their leader. 

Governor John Kasich is the kind of person most Americans want as their leader.  Senator Bernie Sanders is the kind of person most Americans want as their leader. 

I am suggesting a National Unity ticket of John Kasich and Bernie Sanders.

Don’t stop reading.  It’s logical.  It’s ethical.  It’s not politics as usual.  It could work.

A National Unity ticket is not new in American presidential politics.  Abraham Lincoln’s Vice President in 1864 was Andrew Johnson.  Lincoln was a Republican, Johnson was a Democrat.  Lincoln was the president who saved the Union; Johnson was a southerner from Tennessee who had remained loyal to the Union.  Together, the Lincoln-Johnson National Unity Ticket won.  Without that 1864 victory, the United States of America as we know it might not even exist today. 

A Kasich-Sanders ticket, or Sanders-Kasich if you prefer, would pull in all the Republican voters cringing at the thought of what a Trump presidency would do to their nation and party.  It would pull in the enthusiastic Sanders supporters who see Hillary Clinton as corrupt and regressive and Bernie Sanders as fair, fresh and optimistic.  Most importantly, this National Unity ticket could pull in the 60%-in-the-middle, the majority of voters who consider themselves as neither left-wing nor right-wing, but just common-sense ‘do-the-right-thing’ Americans.

Imagine the excitement for voters!  Something truly new in American politics in this generation… a real alternative to the depressing options put forth by the parties… a chance to be part of history-in-the-making!  Voters would flock to the Kasich-Sanders (or Sanders-Kasich) ticket to be part of this historic uprising at the ballot box.  This might be remembered in history books of the 21^st and 22^nd centuries as the election in which the American people rejected the limited alternatives put before them by extremist parties; the election in which American voters rejected hyper-partisanship and came together as one American nation of left and right, young and old, going forward together; the turning point at which the deep divisions that once threatened to tear our nation apart began to heal; the time when we, led by two visionaries in John Kasich and Bernie Sanders, reinstituted government of the people, by the people, for the people.

This is bigger than who gets a four year term in the White House.  It is that, of course… but it could change the very fabric of the American political process for the better. 

Can the candidates come together and make this happen?  I believe they can, if they want badly enough to save this nation, and if they and we are willing to work across the aisle and around the aisle to do what is best for America.  We can do it despite the politically powerful types who tell us we cannot succeed.  We Can Succeed.  We can do it despite the threats of violence from extremists who will hate the idea of cooperation and compromise.  We Can Succeed.  We can and will succeed if we have enough imagination to envision a better world just around the corner, if we have enough love for America, enough hope for our shared future, enough faith in ourselves and our fellow citizens, enough energy and courage to take action and make it happen.

I am not naïve.  I understand the profound differences between Governor Kasich and Senator Sanders on matters of economy, foreign relations, and the proper role and form of government.  But there are bigger issues on which they can build consensus.  They are both men of integrity.  They both love America.  They both want the hyper-partisanship that is destroying us to stop.  What better way to halt that divisiveness in its tracks than to defeat the hyper-partisans of both extremes by working together?  What better role model for the children and young adults of a disillusioned America than a Republican and a Democratic-Socialist leading together, acknowledging the differences between them without condemnation, finding common ground as we move forward as One American Nation?

This could happen.  You could begin to create it.  It would be the hardest thing to do, politically, in generations.  But it could be done, and it could succeed, and it could Save America. 

You can be part of this campaign.  It is not only a campaign to elect a candidate (or candidates).  It is a campaign to break with destructive politics of the past and begin the healing of the United States of America.  It is a campaign for renewal of faith in freedom and integrity in our 21^st century world.  

I hope I have inspired you to think about this as a real possibility.  The challenge is daunting, and time is short.  But the consequences of failing would be catastrophic, and the rewards of success, without compare. 

There are risks.  No great thing is ever done without risk.  But don’t you think the effort and the risk are worthwhile?  Success promises to turn the tide of American decline, to reinvigorate us as one nation, together again. 

How bold are you?  How innovative are you willing to be?  How “all-in” are you willing to go?

If you think the Kasich-Sanders (or Sanders-Kasich) National Unity ticket really should happen, you need to MAKE it happen. 

For this to work, it first needs to be heard and embraced by the candidates.  About a month ago, I wrote to both campaigns, but I do not know how far it went in Vermont or Ohio.  I need you, Gryphem readers, to republish this wherever you can, in whatever way you can.  There are less than 100 of you who are regular readers, so the contribution of each is crucial!  One of you will send it to someone who will send it to someone else who will have the personal email or telephone number of Governor Kasich or Senator Sanders, or a member of their staff or family.  One of you will have a talk with a friend who will talk with another friend, who will get an editorial about the National Unity ticket published in the Washington Post or on CNN. 

YOU are the next link in the chain.  YOU need to spread the word.  Your task is to BEGIN.

We must speak up and demand better.  We must proclaim that INTEGRITY is more important than partisan positions or personalities.  We must publicize this dramatic new idea of National Unity fast and hard, because we don’t have long to make it happen.   

I am taking the unusual step of publishing my email here.  I do this not because Adelaar Gryphem is particularly important in this entire process.  No, my primary job has been to enlighten you by explaining the idea, to let YOU know about it, to let YOU carry it forward.  However, I will continue to do whatever I can to further the cause.  In the event that anyone needs further communication to clarify ideas, suggest strategies, or connect with this writer, I will be available.

Today’s post is not just an ordinary blog to read.  It is your Mission, if you choose to accept it.

Thank you for being a critical part of this historic undertaking.

For National Unity,

 

Gryphem

Gryphem@gmail.com

Desperate Times (Part 1)

Well, friends, it appears that the worst is about to come to pass.

This is not a partisan commentary.  I don’t like either option the political powers-that-be are about to set before us.  I am a conservative-leaning moderate with no love for extremists of either left or right.  I am frustrated by the increasing devolution of American politics into blame, condemnation, mindless posturing, and incompetence.

It has long been my hypothesis that for the past 30 years each President has been worse than the one before.  (By this I mean worse for the nation; this is not necessarily an indictment of the moral character of individuals who have held the office.) 

·         Reagan was great because he was amazingly positive.  He saw opportunities where others saw only obstacles.  He united us, gave us hope, broke the Soviet juggernaut, and gave a self-doubting America a new lease on life.  To a large degree, George H.W. Bush built upon the legacy of Reagan. 

·         Bill Clinton had personal moral failures, but he was not a bad president. He ran the country generally according to the Constitution and balanced the budget a couple of times.  (Many attribute those balance budgets to the conservatives in Congress.  Perhaps, but it was President Clinton who signed those balanced budgets.) 

·         George W. Bush started well.  He entered office with promises of refocusing on our own nation (as opposed to international intervention) and even the potential of a mission to Mars.  Not many remember those early days because eight months in everything changed.  President George W. Bush led us effectively through the crisis that was September 11, 2001.  He helped us regain our courage and our confidence as a nation.  But later, mostly in his second term, he went too far.  He sought and found ways around law and Constitution in his pursuit of better ways to find and stop potential terrorists.  When I learned that this man I once admired had condoned torture as an interrogation tactic, I realized he had gone over to the Dark Side. 

·         President Obama has been, in most ways, a train wreck.  He accomplished almost nothing in his first term, not even the one thing I hoped he would accomplish, closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo.  In his second term he got his ‘Affordable Health Care’ passed (barely), but it is by almost any measure not working, and the status of health care for most Americans is far worse today than it was two or three years ago.  President Obama undermined the Constitution, bypassing Congress and implementing many of his policies and procedures by executive order.  Besides all this Obama inherited an already catastrophically enormous national debt and instead of trying to fix that problem, doubled down on overspending.  Even if we were to start spending wisely next year, and we probably won’t, it would take us decades to recover.

I thought we had reached the bottom.  Practically bankrupt, more divided and hopeless than any other period in my lifetime, including the turbulent years of the late 1960s with its riots and wars.

But we have not bottomed out just yet.  Look what’s coming our way.

On the one hand we have someone who arguably may be the most corrupt politician on the national stage since Richard Nixon, who has sidestepped one scandal after another, lied with impunity, and manipulated people and systems with great disregard for laws and ethics, all the while proclaiming her compassion for the poor and disenfranchised.  She has been a model of Machiavellian efficiency. 

On the other hand we have someone who is potentially even less scrupulous and more dangerous.  A billionaire who has never worked to advance the best interests of anyone but himself, whose only moral barometers are increasing his net worth and absorbing more and yet more of the adoration of the masses.  He routinely insults everyone from the poorest immigrants to his most influential colleagues and even his own supporters.  He threatens to derail our international alliances, bomb the rest of the world into submission to “American” interests, and impose a thinly-veiled fascism on the people of the United States based upon his own view of how things ought to be.  His entire platform can be summed up as an anti-establishment, anti-immigrant, anti-intellectual, anti-everything-but-Donald.  His supporters are for the most part angry people who admire his willingness to take on the politicians and social architects who got us into all this trouble.  While their grievances are real, what they don’t realize is that this solution would be far worse than the problem it is supposed to solve. 

A Trump presidency would be reminiscent of the doctor who reported that “the operation was a success, but the patient died.”

I could go on and on about historical precedents, logical inconsistencies, and the appalling absence of ethics among the leading candidates this presidential primary year.  But you get the idea.  We can still hope, for a few more weeks, that one or the other political convention will be contested, that a better alternative will emerge.  But it’s becoming apparent to most that this election is going to present us with a Hobson’s choice between two unacceptable alternatives. 

No matter which side wins, America Is Going To Lose.  What can we do?

I have an idea. 

It’s a long-shot, an outrageous idea.  It’s an admittedly desperate move, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  We owe it to ourselves, our country, and future generations of Americans to try anything that offers a possibility, however slight, of averting the catastrophic outcome that we have almost (but not quite) come to believe is inevitable.

There is one chance we can come through this with our freedom and integrity intact.

Stand by for further details.

Gryphem