Blind Allegiance?

As Americans, we should pride ourselves in the notion that we have numerous means to involve ourselves with our political system. What should worry us is that many abdicate this responsibility to others, and blindly follow one party or the other without questioning its leaders over their decisions.

For much of W's term in office, few if any people seriously challenged the direction he was bringing his party and the nation. Commentators such as Limbaugh and Hannity called anyone who did challenge the President unpatriotic. When the administration began to assault the notion security in one's papers and home by demanding the telecommunications companies turn over customer records without the benefit of a warrant, Qwest dared to challenge that in court, and for that found their government contracts cancelled.

This behavior is not limited to the right, Democrats are just as guilty of this fault. Over the last few years, Barack Obama has not lived up to the promises he made in his campaign. He has moved the Supreme Court to the right to the point where states such as Texas, Kansas and Louisiana feel confident in passing legislation that repudiates Roe v. Wade because the court has shifted sufficiently to the right. He allowed congress to wait until a lame duck session to take up the extension of the Bush tax cuts, and allowed the minority party to dictate terms. The same issue pressed before the recess going into the elections would have forced Congress take a position, and dare anyone to vote against the extension of the middle class tax cuts, with voters waiting in the wings to cast judgement.

In America, a citizen's responsibility to the governance of the nation does not end at the ballot box, it begins there. If we are truly going to honor the memory of our nation's founders, we as a nation need to become more involved in the system. A President shouldn't expect a free pass when it comes to re-election, he should expect a primary challenger who will keep him honest. He should expect hard questions from constituents from both sides of the aisle to be reminded that America is a land of diverse opinion. In the future our political system should reflect this diversity, by embracing measures that would encourage third, fourth and fifth party participation. This would be something we could do to increase participation and break the stranglehold that corrupting interests seem to have on our government.