My view of American politics has always been that of the two political parties, neither one even came close to representing anything that resembled my point of view. I always felt that if I was going to feel at all represented in our representative government, it would require the ascendance of a `third party', that mythical beast of the American disillusioned. However, it has consistently been proven that this `third party' fantasy is just that, a pipe dream.
So how am I, and the millions of Americans with a similar view, supposed to gain political clout in today's America? I have ruled out the self-delusion of bringing a third party into political relevance (sorry green & libertarians & others, I just don't see it happening). So here I present my thoughts on something that, while still not exactly a probable chain of events, is at least slightly less impossible.
The crux of the theory is that instead of forging a new party and attempting to thrust it into the dual-party oligarchy that exists today, we carve out a subset of one of the existing parties and attempt to change the world through this New Wing.
Step 1: Brand Name
So the first step on this path is to create the brand name of this new wing. This is the easy part. Just pick something that you feel you could proudly call yourself, and that others would proudly accept the label. A couple further thoughts on this, however,. I think it would be wise to avoid a term that already has a meaning, such as "Reform". For instance, I think in this case, calling the New Wing "Reform Democrats" would be ill advised. Mainly because if you choose a word with a previous meaning, people already have a concept of the brand before you can define it. If you choose a term that has no meaning, then you get to define it yourself.
Think "Neo-Con Republican". "Yellow Dog Democrat". Something along those lines.
Step 2: Build the Wing
Okay, now comes the hard part. You need to get somebody in Washington that proudly claims to be a member of the New Wing. Preferably, multiple somebody's. And somebody's with power. However, first things first. Just get somebody.
Now, this could be a Congressman already in office that has similar views to us, or a newbie running for his first national position that know they could benefit from the New Wing support.
Or maybe just start it off local, get some local politicians around the nation to give the effort some buzz. Anything to kick start the New Wing membership drive.
Obviously, the biggest asset available to us to entice a representative is cash. Whoever claims to be a member of the New Wing will almost assuredly receive mounds of dough from the online community. And, they will almost instantly have thousands of boots on ground aimed at helping them obtain & retain their office. This is the big carrot that the New Wing can offer to any potential representative. The stick part, well, we'll talk about that later.
But this step, growing the New Wing, this is basically the impossible step. How can a group of `outsiders' create a Wing and entice `insiders' to join? Or, can any of these `outsiders' elect one of their own to get on the `inside'? This will take a monumental effort, and I am not positive that it is possible. It is nice to dream about, though.
Step 3: Wield Power
Now this exercise in futility becomes interesting. Say, somehow someway, that we got people in D.C. that are members of the New Wing, now what? What does that get us? How do we translate this membership into political clout? Basically, how do we get ours?
One way would be to examine voting records & reward / punish accordingly. Although, the more I think about it, the more I feel that one's voting record is the least important statistic of a legislator. I mean, sure, it's essentially the only requirement of their job (what is their job description, introduce bills, vote on bills, and, umm, orate?), but truthfully, their real job is far more complicated. They must make deals, compromises, appease this sector, those groups, etc.
So here is where my proposal is a little unique, at least in my view. Instead of focusing on individual votes, we have 2 simple requirements for a legislator to be a member in good standing of our New Wing.
- Agree with our stated vision of governmental philosophy. This is something we would have to create, but I think that should be relatively simple. A progressive, fiscally responsible, morally upstanding view of government. Something like that. Basically, the elevator speech thing that Kos brought up how ever many months ago, but maybe tailored a little more toward a smaller subsection of progressive Democrats instead of the entire Democratic party.
- Communication. That's it. Handle your legislative business how you feel proper, but communicate the reasons for your decisions back to us. And not only to us, but to everybody. Post your thoughts & reasonings for all to see. And, open yourself up to questions from the community. Say, once or twice a month, accept a list of question from a moderated website & answer them. (I'm thinking something along the lines of the Slashdot interviews, users ask questions, they get rated by the community, top rated questions get passed on, then answers get posted later.)
So that's it. A similar philosophy & some communication. In return, legislators get money & foot soldiers.
Final Thoughts
This pie-in-the-sky dream o' mine essentially attacks the primary deficiency in modern politics, at least in my uneducated view. As the nation has grown, and the government has grown (grown to previously unthought-of heights), our legislators have become increasingly divorced from their constituents. And in some ways, it's not their fault (in a lot of ways, it is, of course, but now is a time for reconciliation, so I will drop my grievances, for now). The number of people they are tasked with representing has become unwieldy.
But now, the internet has introduced a method to increase their communication with their constituents. After decades of separation, however, they seem to be reluctant to open themselves up to the public again, maybe in fear of mixing with the riff raff, or maybe in fear of a slip of the tongue giving their opponents an undeserved edge. Whatever the reason, we must do our part to encourage openness in our government officials.
We have, quite possibly, the single greatest achievement of mankind right here, an inexpensive method of communicating across vast distances in the blink of an eye. From one to many, or from many to one, the options available to us are endless. We need to discover a method to use this communication tool for the benefit of our nation through the political sphere.
This is but one ridiculous thought experiment. I just hope to see something change in the political realm that would allow me, an American citizen, to say that I feel properly represented in my supposedly representative government.