Thursday, November 4, 2010

TeaParty 2.0: Where To Now?


As the dust settles from the midterm elections it's a good time to pause and take stock of what the Tea Party has accomplished, and where it should go from here. Specifically, the Tea Party movement should begin to find and promote the next generation of politicians that are unaffiliated with any organized political party.

There can be little doubt that Democrats in general and Obama in particular got their comeuppance in this election. For my own part, my votes were cast in direct repudiation of the Obama health care reform effort and more broadly against the expansion of federal jurisdiction far beyond its original intent.

That Republicans were the benefactor of my votes was largely incidental. For most of the contests, the Republican-endorsed candidates I voted for were the only credible alternative to the incumbents. That does not mean I favor the Republican party.

I remember quite vividly that Republicans, after all, are responsible for the single largest expansion of federal entitlements since the 60's. (I speak of Medicare Part D.) I also remember the famed "Contract With America" of the 104th Congress and how most of it was conveniently ignored once the Republicans were in control. They are as slimy as Democrats, just about different things.

For a long time I believed that what American democracy needed was a third party. I no longer believe that. I now believe that what American democracy needs is no parties.

I believe this because any representative that belongs to an organized political party must take into consideration the effect of his or her vote on both the party as a whole as well as his or her place within the party. In many cases, such considerations will be consonant with the representative's view of what's best for his constituents - - but not always.

For example, when my Democrat Congressman was considering the health care reform bill in its final form, he was singled out as one of maybe a dozen representatives that were critical to the bill's passage. He received visits from Democratic party leadership. He received a personal call from President Obama. The message, whether ever spoken directly, but no doubt understood, was this: if you don't vote for this bill, your future in the Democratic party is O-V-E-R.

That he should ever have faced such a dilemma is the tragedy of our current party-dominated system. The structure of an organized party is, in fact, leverage over the vote. Leverage over the vote that is supposed to be cast for me and the folks that live around me.

I reject that leverage as a perversion of democracy. I believe that my representative should represent the interests of my community and those that live in it and nothing else.

I suspect that the rise of Tea Party sentiment shows that many others feel this way as well. For a long time it was assumed that people who were sick of party politics were really just sick of the *other* party. Not true: I am sick of both - - and all - - parties.

So now that its voice is being heard and listened to, the best thing Tea Partiers could do is to begin to demand - - collectively, immediately - - that future aspirants to public office (including those just elected that wish to retain their seats) run unaffiliated. Tea Partiers wishing to genuinely improve the health of our democracy should direct their efforts towards promoting and supporting such unaffiliated candidates.

The election of unaffiliated representatives is the best assurance that issues will be decided on the substance of the issues themselves, and not on the competing and in some cases subverting interests of the party to which the representative belongs.