We have three main parties in the country, and the one that consistently wins is the one that everyone has chosen to ignore. The candidate for Apathy wins every time.
Other diarists have asked if the current crop of candidates is the best the Republicans can do, and as long as both Republicans and Democrats are the minority parties to Apathy, then yes, this is the best they can do. It is also the best WE can do.
Can Apathy ever become a minority party? Do we want it to?
The people I've known that involved politically at any level share a few common traits:
They are passionate about something.
They feel they can make a difference.
They feel the need to make a difference.
There is something that bothers them that needs fixing.
It was true about myself when I first became involved in local issues, and it was the first step that I took before ever donating to any cause. My path is heavily walked, and I think a path that is taken by most who become involved in politics at any level. I still have not progressed far beyond this, but everyone has to start somewhere. :)
Apathy swells and is the largest party when things are going well, and the first to lose members when things start to hit the fan. Occupy and the Tea Party are groups that pull members away from the very core. And even if an individual's efforts are misguided they still have left the fold. Although if those members feel they've been astroturfed, played, or betrayed, they either return as the most loyal members of Apathy, or fight against it the hardest.
There are places and times that Apathy has weakened. The changes, and revolutions, that happen in those times speak to a broken government that makes our current government model an ideal in comparison.
I don't want Apathy to lose too many members, but I do tend to want those that support my causes to leave the party. There is no way to be pulled from the Apathy party, it takes a level of personal responsibility that would make a Randian jealous.
Do I wish for everyone to have this epiphany? I have a hard time figuring out if I would rather have my foes vanquished and win through the 'good fight' or let them be complacent and still accomplish what I want.
It is what scares me to my core to believe that it could be done to me.