The problem with a one party system is that there is no accountability. During the Cold War the argument about the evils of Socialism or Communism were always tied to the fact that they only allowed one political party. The problem with a one party system was that there was a litmus test that one needed to pass in order to become a member of the party. However, members of the party could vote in Democratic elections for candidates that were all members of that party.
Well, America's great experiment with one party politics is underway. The same people that fought tooth and nail against Communism because of "the lack of Democracy" are in power in essentially a one party system. And, thanks to Tom Delay and other Republican operatives they are using their power to make their stronghold on power stronger. When Tom Delay drew up his redistricting plans in Texas his objective was to create six new Republican seats in congress. This is obviously a blatant power grab. But not all these political actions are as obvious.
It should be recognized that the objective of any political party is to obtain and retain political power. The more political power the better off the party is from the perspective of the political party. But, this is certainly not the case from the perspective of the American citizen. When two groups have different perspectives but near equal power in the process the average American will benefit from the clash of ideas. And, the best ideas win out as each side is accountable to the other. But as the Cold Warriors told us repeatedly, "There is no accountability in a one party system." Why would America be any different?
Republicans are currently in control of Congress, the Executive Branch and the Supreme Court. They certainly have their chance to demonstrate what a Republican one-party system is like. They can create laws that won't be struck down or vetoed. And, over the last few months they have shown us what this dream world of Republican idealism is like.
The first thing that they did was to create a wall of secrecy. This is important, because if the people find out what the Republicans are really up to they could loose the one-party rule that they have worked so hard to gain. From behind this wall the real strategy is planned, and the sound bites for general consumption are created. It is interesting that the Soviet Union did the same thing, because even with total control the Soviet Union feared that if the truth got out the people would revolt. By hiding the truth behind this wall accountability is denied to the American people, just like the Republicans like it.
But, there have been laws that were passed under previous congresses that were modified by the two-party system that we once had. One of these laws is the "Freedom of Information Act." (FOIA) This law allows people to discover what their government is doing. But, it isn't that easy, because you need to know what information you are seeking in order to ask for it. If the wall of secrecy is tight enough people won't even know what to ask for. And, if the government can argue that the information would effect national security the request will not be granted. So, even with the FOIA the government can still hide things, like the planning of a war, or negotiations with a foreign power.
Since the major objections to the Bush administration before Katrina had to do with foreign policy and wars there wasn't much that could be found out about the way the Bush administration operates and the wall of secrecy stayed in place. But, Katrina is a window into the administration. The Associated Press was able to find out about the planning for Katrina, because there wasn't a national security issue involved. Katrina happened here in America. But, what the Associated Press found was not a pretty picture. They found a president who sat there and was told about the dangers of the coming hurricane. Whether he actually listened or not - we may never know, because he didn't ask questions. So, perhaps he has plausible deniability when we told us that no one could have known that the levees could break. If he wasn't engaged maybe he just didn't remember that he was told about this. But, if this is the case, do we really want this guy running our country? Well, we can't do anything about that now, we are stuck with this guy.
But, there is one thing that Americans can do. We can vote to change the party in control of congress in November. If the Democrats can win one house of congress they will be able to force the one-party Republican controlled government to answer questions. This is called accountability, and this was a major reason we fought the Cold War. When we heard that we were fighting for Democracy we were fighting for different voices to ask the hard questions in government. We were fighting for government to be accountable to the people. After all, isn't that what America is all about?
Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit
