Rebounding From Party To Party In The Two-Party System

Some of the most recent elections indicate that the country is looking for rebound politicians. Good examples of that occurs when an election that is usually controlled by one party is actually won by candidates from the other party. Doug Jones's victory over Roy Moore for a Senate seat from Alabama and Conor Lamb's win over Rich Saccone for Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional seat are two examples of where voters were choosing rebound candidates. For it seems that many voters have been greatly disappointed by President Trump's performance And in trying to recover from that Presidential choice, rebounding voters had only one option.

George W. Bush was a rebound President for those who were the first to suffer from Clinton fatigue. And then Obama was the rebound Presidential choice for those who had had enough with Republican Presidential policies. After that, Trump was the choice not just for those who feared that liberals had too much say in our country, but also for those who had had it with the Republican establishment. And so Trump ran as the only rebound candidate for the Republican nomination. 

And needless to say, Hillary Clinton was the long awaited choice for those who were legitimately looking to rebound from the long line male Presidents. And like our two-party system, people had only one option to choose from for that rebound vote.

As things stand, it seems that the American voter is the ball in a game of pong between the Democratic and Republican Parties. The American voter rebounds with one party only to find out that they need to rebound again. And so back and forth voters go to rebound from one party's politician to another party's politician.

We could point to the two-party system for the American voter's endless need to rebound from the candidates of one party to another. And though the two-party system is very deficient, it doesn't provide the sole, or even the major, reason why we constantly go back and forth between the two parties. The major reason why we are constantly rebounding between the two political parties is because we don't want to constantly participate in our nation's political processes. As a result, we vote for the leaders whom we think we can ignore until the next election. The problem is that our choices rarely work out that way.

Our choices don't work out because the more we ignore our elected officials, the less accountable they become. The less accountable our politicians become, the more likely they will act in their own interests. And the more they act in their own interests, not only will we become disillusioned with them, the more they will be imitating us, the voters, who voted for politicians in order that we could act in our own interests.

Now the above theory doesn't answer why we have so many incumbents in Congress who are constantly reelected time and time again. There are other explanations for that. But it certainly might help explain why we keep switching between Republican and Democratic Presidents. And it also explains why the political activities of many Americans are restricted to election related activities.

Occasionally, we run into causes that move us to take time out of our busy schedules to speak out to our politicians. The March For Our Lives movement is such a movement for it has awakened many people to an important cause. And certainly reducing gun violence by passing good, effective gun control laws is a worthy cause to take a stand on. And in case some have not noticed,  the level of participation in the March For Our Lives movement is modifying some of the rhetoric and stands some of our politicians are taking. And that should tell us something. What if the American showed the same level of participation in advancing other causes as they have in the March For Our Lives movement? What would happen is that our politicians would become more accountable to us and we would gain some power over them.

There is much corruption in our political system today. Certainly, our politicians deserve some of our anger for the corruption. But the corruption is not all their fault. Some of the corruption is due to the fact that, just like art imitates life, so politicians sometimes reflect the moral values of us, their constituents. And some of the corruption is due to the fact that we think we have more important matters to attend to than to constantly hold our politicians accountable. Indeed, we do have other important matters to tend to such as caring for our families and managing our jobs and careers. But still, to not make time so that we can hold our politicians accountable for their voting records and actions is to almost ask them to get away with as much as they can. And until we are more willing to participate as citizens in the available political processes such as activism, we should expect nothing else from our elected leaders than to cheat on us.


 

ONIM For March 26, 2018

10 Best Fact Checking Sites Found Here.

If you are not sure about the validity of a news story linked to below, you can use  mediabiasfactcheck.com to check out the credibility of the source of most of the stories linked to here.


Christian News

• Time To Push Tackle Football Into Retirement -- Gospel Coalition
• The Article Removed From Forbes, "Why White Evangelicalism Is So Cruel" -- Political Orphans
• Former GOP White House Official: Evangelicals Mulligan Defense Of Trump Is 'Complete Hypocrisy' --  CNN
• Richard Dawkins Warns Against Celebrating The Alleged Demise Of Christianity In Europe -- Fox News
• Author Points To Persistent 'Slaveholder Religion' Among Evangelicals For Trump -- Religion News Service

World News

• The Texas Town That Has Been Without Running Water For Decades -- Guardian
• Worker Cooperatives Are More Productive Than Normal Companies -- Nation
• UN Says Small-Scale Organic Farming Only Way To Feed The World -- Huffington Post
• Bankruptcy Judge Approves $14M Executive Bonus Payout -- USA Today
• The Corporate Media Ignores The Rise Of Oligarchy. The Rest Of Us Shouldn't -- Guardian
• Arkansas Students Paddled For Taking Part In National School Walkout Against Violence -- Newsweek
• Obama's Legacy For Impunity For Torture -- Atlantic
• Americans Are Partisan About Everything--Even Sex Scandals -- FiveThirtyEight
• Sources Contradict Sessions's Testimony He Opposed Russia Outreach -- Reuters
• Building The Iron Wall -- Truthdig
• Brazil Protests Over Slain Politician Marielle Franco -- BBC
• U.S. Supreme Court Allows Flint Water Contamination Lawsuits -- Reuters
• Xi Jinping Says China Ready To Fight 'Bloody Battle' To Regain Rightful Place In The World, In Blistering Nationalist Speech -- Telegraph
• McConnell Says He Has Confidence In Mueller -- US News And World Report
• Jared Kushner's Family Business Faked Documents, Made Millions: AP -- CBS News
• Fifteen Years Ago, America Destroyed My Country -- New York Times
• Federal Judge Blocks Mississippi's New 15-Week Abortion Ban -- PBS
• The Worst Lesson Parents Can Teach -- Religion News Service
• Sessions Greenlights Police To Seize Cash, Property From People Suspected Of Crimes, But Not Charged -- Washington Post
• On Its 100th Birthday In 1959, Edward Teller Warned The Oil Industry About Global Warming -- Guardian
• Dow Drops 724 Points Amid Fears Of A U.S. Trade War With China -- NPR
• Pharma Billionaire Arrested On Charges Of Bribing Doctors To Prescribe Opioid Painkillers -- Fortune
• Canadian Teen Tells UN 'Warrior Up' To Protect Water -- CBC News
• Sheldon Adelson Expresses Support For Campaign Against McMaster -- Haaretz
• In The Wake Of Walkouts, A Quote From Marjory Stoneman Douglas Becomes A Rallying Cry -- CNN
• LaVar Burton: America Has Sold Its Soul To Special Interests, And The Parkland Students Know It -- NBC News
• The Climate Is Changing For Climate Skeptics -- Huffington Post
• America Takes The Next Step Toward Tyranny -- New York Magazine
• Why Is U.S. Health Care So Expensive? Some Of The Reasons You've Heard Turn Out To Be Myths -- New York Times
• North, South Korea Set To Hold Talks Ahead Of Major Summit -- ABC News
• Live: March For Our Lives Demonstrations In Washington, D.C., And Around The World -- Yahoo News
• Secret Memos Expose Links Between Oil Firms And Invasion Of Iraq -- Independent

Israel-Palestine News

• Arab Citizens Tried To Buy Land In This Israeli Town. The Mayor Halted The Sale To Uphold Its 'Jewish-Zionist Nature' -- Haaretz
• U.S., Israel And Saudi Arabia Leading World To War With Iran, France Says -- Newsweek
• You Cannot Occupy Another People And Consider Yourself A Just Society--Haneen Zoabi, Suspended Palestinian Legislator -- Mondoweiss
• Politicians Have To Listen To A Diverse Range Of Jewish Voices -- Huffington Post
• It's Not In Ahed Tamimi's Best Interest To Have A Secret Trial, It's In Israel's -- Newsweek
• War-Loving, Muslim-Hating John Bolton Wants To Give Pieces Of Palestine To Jordan And Egypt -- Mondoweiss

Donald Trump News

• White House Officials Made To Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements: Washington Post -- Reuters
• AP Fact Check: Trump Wrong On Russian Collusion Question -- Bakersfield.com
• Republicans To Trump: Let Mueller Do His Job -- Reuters
• 67 Environmental Rules On The Way Out Under Trump -- New York Times
• Donald Trump And The New Dawn Of Tyranny -- Time
• Hate Groups Are Growing Under Trump -- Atlantic
• Trump Replaces National Security Advisor HR McMaster With John Bolton -- BBC News
• White House Announces Ban On Transgender People Serving In Military -- Guardian
• GOP Lawmaker Knocks Trump For Putin Call But Refuses To Distance Himself From President -- Yahoo News
• Trump Says Administration Will Ban Bump Stock Devices -- San Francisco Chronicle
• Trump Plan Could Open Giant Sequoia Monument To Logging -- Guardian 

Pick(s) Of The Litter 

• When Black Voters Exited Left -- Atlantic
• Water Tests At Flint Elementary School Show Increase In Lead Levels -- Time
• Russia's Clash With The West Is About Geography, Not Ideology -- Foreign Policy
• Extreme Poverty In America: Read The UN's Special Monitor's Report -- Guardian
• Congress Demands Pentagon Investigate Sexual Assaults Among Children On Military Bases -- PBS
• Escaping Poverty Requires Almost 20 Years Of Nearly Nothing Going Wrong -- Atlantic
• Thousands Of Working New Yorkers Are Living In Homeless Shelters -- Wall Street Journal
• Austin Package Bombs Appear To Be Targeting Prominent Black Families -- New York Magazine
• Sixth Texas Parcel Bomb Leaves U.S. Investigators Baffled -- Reuters
• Austin Bomb Suspect Mark Anthony Conditt Recorded 25-Minute 'Confession,' Police Say -- NBC News
• Torture Again: Why It Is Always Wrong And More -- Roger Olson
• How Unarmed Civilians Saved Lives During Anti-Muslim Attacks In Sri Lanka -- Waging Nonviolence
• Sessions Says To Courts: Go Ahead, Jail People Because They Are Poor -- New York Times
• The Root Of All Cruelty? -- New Yorker
• 39% Of Prisoners Should Not Be In Prison -- Time
• Paul Ehrlich: 'Collapse Of Civilisation Is A Near Certainty Within Decades' -- Guardian
• Unarmed Man Killed By Police Who Fired 20 Rounds At Him -- ABC News
• Protests Rock Sacramento For Second Day After Fatal Police Shooting Of Unarmed Black Man -- ABC News
• The Legal Case For Striking North Korea First -- Wall Street Journal
• 'Testilying' By Police: A Stubborn Problem -- New York Times
• West Silent As Genocide Lurks In Syria -- Acton
• More Children Have Been Killed By Guns Since Sandy Hook Than U.S. Soldiers In Combat Since 9/11 -- Newsweek
• March For Our Lives Will 'Start A Revolution,' Parkland School Shooting Survivor Says -- ABC News
• Parkland Student David Hogg Says Black Classmates Weren't Given A Voice By Media -- Newsweek
• 50,000 Children In Yemen Have Died Of Starvation And Disease So Far This Year, Monitoring Group Says -- Chicago Tribune

Some Activist Math

I discovered my first activist math formula quite a few years ago. The formula distinguishes between privileges and rights and thus allows us to see if a group that is either struggling to escape marginalization or striving to reach a position of supremacy over other groups. The formula is below:

Rights - Equality = Privilege

What the formula is simply saying is that any set of rights sought by a group which will not be enjoyed by all in society are not rights, they are privileges that will be enjoyed by only some in society. On the other hand, if marriage was denied to the LGBT community, then heterosexuals would have a privileged status in society over the LGBT community. Of course it has been more than obvious that, unfortunately, heterosexuals have a place of supremacy over the LGBT community throughout our nation's history. However, by seeking to enjoy marriage as heterosexuals enjoy it, then that seeking of opportunity to get married illustrates the seeking of equality with heterosexuals regarding marriage.

On the other hand, when some of my fellow religiously conservative Christians tried to legislate what the Bible says about marriage into the laws of the state, they weren't recognizing the religious views of others and thus were seeking a place of supremacy over others.

However, there is another formula that is more timely in the light of the upcoming protests for more gun control. The formula goes like this:

a bought gov't + a lazy electorate = a deaf gov't

What the above simply says is that a lack of participation by the people in the democratic process where the government is controlled by those with wealth results in a government that can no longer hear its people. However, if the people speak up long and loud enough, the electorate no longer is lazy and government starts to hear what people are saying. This is the formula that must be remembered in the March For Our Lives protests (click here for the website) scheduled for different parts of our nation on March 24.
 
One march is not going to get the results that many people want. This has been the problem with the Women's March that started on the day after Trump's inauguration. Sure, the march was massive. But it lost all of its momentum because there were no significantly large marches immediately following that march. And this has been the problem with most protests in the 21^st century. Sure we are some times able to create a march with significant numbers. But such marches are too far and too few between for them to have an effect. One march alone does not change the status of a lazy electorate into a participating electorate.




Here, the anti-war and Civil Rights protests of the 1960s should be regarded as the models for how to protest for better gun control. The protests, though having started small, grew in size and numbers. The protests were many and constant. The protesters were persistent in getting their points across. It showed an involved electorate and that resulted in government reluctantly responding to the people.
 
Momentum is currently on the side of the high school kids from Parkland, Florida. They have started a conversation with our government. And some others are taking their side. Then there is the march on March 24. But these kids should from their experience at Florida's capital where a mere debate on gun control was voted down and replaced with a debate on pornography. They should not be surprised if their march produces no favorable reaction form our government. Thus, they should be planning on what to do after their March 24th protests.

One other point should be made. If these kids want people from other groups to join them in their cause, they must be willing to return the favor. And means that they must admit that it wasn't until a tragic event happened to them that they started taking action. For we need to realize that minority students, their age, have been suffering from gun violence for a long time and their tragedies were not enough to move the kids from Parkland into action. So they need to realize that they have been guilty of a similar apathy that they see in the government officials they are currently challenging. Such a perspective could help fine tune the tone of their protests so that it becomes as effectively loud, without becoming shrill, as possible.