WHY ELECT AN INDEPENDENT

WHY ELECT AN INDEPENDENT


James Madison, one of the principal framers of the US Constitution and the fourth President of the United States, also participated in writing “The Federalist Papers”. This body of work, written anonymously and signed “Publius”, set out the benefits for ratification of our Constitution by the thirteen original States.
In Article X, Madison defines the essential differences between a democracy and a republic. The distinction being that in a republic the people choose representatives to assemble for the purpose of debating and enacting legislation to govern the nation. A democracy on the other hand is suited to a small community ( generally city-states) which due to their size enables the populace to assemble and decide upon legislation (no representatives). As a nation we have fondly adopted the word democracy to serve as a catch-all term, referring to governments established by a vote of the inhabitants. We reserve the right to withhold the award of that definition if the vote was obviously fraudulent and the nation was considered a threat (for instance, the Soviet Union).
In his description of the differences between democracy and republic, Madison points out that since democracy can only function in a small locality,such as the Greek City-States, the factions which comprise the populace (rich and poor, landed and indigent) give rise to strongly fought legislative battles. Consequently, democracies did not exhibit a characteristic of long life. Republics, on the other hand, were governed by legislatures consisting of representatives chosen by the people, whose stature was recognized and who could participate in honest and orderly debate, thereby enabling a necessary compromise between factions. A republic was therefore not limited to a small geographical area and would actually benefit from encompassing larger domains which served to diminish the strength of individual factions.
The thrust of the Federalist Papers was to convince the States to form a Union which embodied the principals of a Republic and which limited the governing authority through a balance of power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. This form of government has been tested over the last two hundred years and has survived the challenges of ethnic, religious and racial factions as well as economic crises and the US Civil War.
The remarkable ingenuity of mankind, however, has demonstrated the ability of faction to pervade the legislative councils of government. This ability also serves to provide an outlet for the pent-up pressures of faction to exert their influence on proposed legislation. Legislative functions in a republic are, by nature, a dynamic and at times a raucous and stormy display of emotion for the redress of grievances experienced by segments of the nation.
As Americans we find ourselves confronted with the existence of two powerful factions which are vying to wrest control of our federal government. These factions, identified generally as liberal and conservative, wish not only to set the legislative agenda, but to control the executive and judicial branches as well. In Lincoln's words, we are in the throes of a “house divided”. The two major political parties represent their factions which form the party base (one liberal and one conservative). In each faction there are those who border on fanaticism, whereby the individual representatives are measured in accordance with their qualifications as a “true” liberal or “true” conservative. The bulk of the American electorate is then expected to choose which path is preferable (or as some would say, which is the least objectionable).
The ability of the two major factions to resist a third choice has been demonstrated through the power of the purse. Political campaigns are expensive and each faction (or major party if you prefer) has been able to dominate the election campaigns through the enormous outlays of money which no third faction could match----- until now.
The American electorate has called for bipartisanship in our nation's capitol, which has obviously fallen on deaf ears. Considering that we're dealing with powerful political factions which occupy the extreme ends of the political spectrum, the emergence of bipartisanship has the existential likelihood of the proverbial snowball in hell.
And so, dear and patient reader, we have arrived at the twenty-first century with a marvelous and new tool ----- the Internet. Now, with the help of individual contributions from the American electorate, the broad center of the political spectrum can be served by Independent candidates, funded via the Internet. There are still those voters who are loyal to the two major factions with the fervency of followers embracing a religious cult. The emergence of Generation X and their reliance on cyberspace is now the avenue though which Independent candidates can fund their campaigns. It is these candidates who, when elected, will serve the interests of the American electorate rather than the narrow partisan pursuits of the major political factions.


Richard Todd Snoqualmie WA 5/27/08