Dual-party system fails to represent public opinion

These days anyone would be a fool to deny that America is hyper-political. Presidential hopefuls are already being tipped two elections into the future. We follow daily the news of our politicians. It seems that ever since President Clinton had his societally deemed inappropriate interactions with a Ms. Monica Lewinsky we have been incredibly interested with what is happening in Washington, D.C. Perhaps instead, that was simply the beginning of my cognizance with this incredibly interesting (and frequently failed) system we have evolved into.

That the layman's interest in the political situation has increased or changed is debatable; however, that the layman's understanding of the viciousness of the process has increased is not debatable. Perhaps politics has always been this dirty. After all, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton had a duel near the inception of our nation. Jefferson Davis ran off with half of the country. Richard Nixon proclaimed he was not a crook while being a cheater. Rep. Tom Delay was just indicted for cheating...and he is chairman of the ethics committee. Senator Frist is under investigation for insider trading, and don't let me begin on President Bush.

It seems to me that what we know or don't know matters little. Americans continue to vote for two parties that cheat and care little. Our politicians seem to care little about hiding most of their corruption. In America we simply don't call it corruption anymore. We just say "oh, that's politics" and go on with our lives.

I for one yearn for a viable third party or at least a responsive second party. A party that has a consistent belief system. A party that represents its voters. CAFTA, yet another 'free-trade' agreement with unfair bias towards wealthy nations, recently passed our congressional halls with only tepid difficulty. Around the nation there was much less support for an agreement feared to lose American jobs and yet again screw the poor farmers in our neighboring southern countries.

Over this past weekend approximately 100,000 Americans protested this war. They marched around DC and chanted true concerns to Americans such as 'make levees, not war.' They were followed up by a march in support of the war the very next day where approximately 500 people showed up. I'm not good enough to figure out the mathematical ratio without a calculator but it seems to me to come out somewhere around not good. Even if the warmongers had guns and the peaceniks olive branches it doesn't look good for the 500.

Which political party supported this protest? Which major politico stood among the throngs and ranted from the podium for the need to change the course of this nation? None, unless you still consider 1988 Presidential long shot Jesse Jackson as a mover and shaker in the Democratic party. Maybe, maybe, if we are lucky, one of those kids standing in the crowd will grow up and start a party and change the world. Neither of these parties existed when this nation began, and quite frankly, neither of them deserves to continue their existence.

Sorry if you were looking for a sensible argument, I'm much too incensed for such a thing. It's time we look to new places for leadership. Perhaps if we stopped paying attention to the crooks getting caught and began looking for good men to lead our nation some of these ills would go away. Eh, it's just my opinion after all.