I had planned on writing about potential water shortage issues this year and steps we can take to get through that. Or I was going to write about the Durango Police Department, the new challenges it faces and the steps it is taking to continue to protect and serve the people of Durango. But those will have to wait.
George Washington in his farewell address Sept. 17, 1796, said, “However (political parties) may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterward the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
These words from 229 years ago couldn’t be any truer than they are now. For generations, the two major parties have gathered the power to keep control of the government. They have made it difficult, if not impossible, for the rise of any other parties to take place.
The major parties are automatically on the ballot, while third party or independent candidates must gather signatures or take other steps to be listed. They are automatically in the debates, while others must “prove” that they have enough support to be on the stage. Whichever party is in control in any state during the census year gets to draw the new district boundaries, which they do to benefit themselves.
There was a time, in the not-so-distant past, when people in each party might disagree on policies, but worked to find compromises that helped the American people. Now compromise is so rare that the word bipartisan has come to mean that maybe a couple or a few people from the other party have joined to support a bill. The political process has become a zero-sum contest. It isn’t about finding the best solution; it is about absolute power. People get elected promising to be an “independent voice for the people of my district.” Yet, once in office, they will vote the party line almost exclusively.
Elected officials spend a huge percentage of their time raising money. With the money raised, there are always strings attached. It has been well documented that lobbyists often write legislation.
These things discourage voter turnout. The U.S. ranks consistently in the low 30s in turnout of the 50 democracies. The movement in some states to make voting even more difficult further depresses participation in the most important feature of our political system.
We need to change this if we truly want a government that represents the people, not one subset of people or corporate wants. We can start by calling our elected officials and demanding that they seek workable compromises with each other. Demand that they follow the rule of law and the Constitution in all their actions and not take shortcuts through legislative or administrative tricks.
Seek out unaffiliated candidates to run for office and work to get them qualified and elected. Unaffiliated voters outnumber each major party. Quit telling people, or believing, that if you don’t vote for a Republican or Democrat you are wasting your vote. Tell others to vote for the person who truly represents them.
Push for term limits and getting unlimited money out of politics. Elected office is not supposed to be a career. Corporations and the ultra-wealthy should not own the government.
Use letters, phone calls, ballot initiatives, demonstrations, whatever it takes, to make the system work for “We the People.”
Scott Perez is a former working cowboy, guide and occasional actor. He earned a master’s degree in Natural Resource Management from Cornell University and lives in the Animas River Valley.
