Free Topic

George Washington: "Let me now take a more comprehensive view, & warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party, generally."

It may be natural for people to congregate into parties, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a constant attack on independent and truly thoughtful thinking. Political parties, moreover, force candidates with good ideas to sacrifice their ability to advertise those ideas that may contradict the overall accepted ideology of the party. Parties believe that the ideas of many mediocre men combined is better than the ideas of one great man. Finally, party politics is based on too much black and white thinking, and not enough moderate, gray thinking, that combines the best of both sides. Overall, party politics is harmful to government.

The greatest minds are independent ones. Every genius, in whatever field he is a part of, has thought independent of the commonly accepted ideas and trends of his era. If any groundbreaking, genius, novel, or genuinely thoughtful ideas are going to come into practice in politics, then they are going to have to come from such a line of thinking – one that does not have anything common to it. Parties are built in a way that ideas that come out of any party system is never too far away from the commonly accepted practices within that party. A party is not going to allow a candidate to run for presidency who has ideas that stray too farm from the common line of thinking. This is the primary reason why we never see anything genius voted into law, why there are never any solutions to problems that are absolutely revolutionary in theory and effectiveness. Why shouldn’t we see genius in politics if we see it in medicine, technology, writing, film, or any other field?

Parties are run by many people, where no one person is spectacularly bright, as is the case with any grouping of people. The opposite of that is excellence, and the greatest men in history are either ruling over this group of lesser leaders or disassociating themselves with that group completely, as to think completely independent of mediocrity. When greater men do enter this system, they are forced to compromise their better ideas for the desires of the many.

People have a very difficult time thinking in grey. Parties exacerbate this deficiency in thinking. For example, Republicans have the right idea on cutting spending in general as well as abolishing most cases of abortion; Democrats want to increase health – care spending for those who cannot afford it (I do not, as you think, support government – funded healthcare for people who can easily afford it. I wasn’t specific enough about that) as well as end pointless military endeavors and give equal rights to gay couples. Both parties are right, and the right idea is to combine their right ideas. You cannot do this in party politics, and if you try you will at the least not be voted in, and at the most asked to leave the party.

The ideal situation would be the elimination of parties. I never said it was ever going to happen, and it’s hard to see politicians accepting the idea of running independent, as there are many personal and financial disadvantages that the average politician doesn’t want to deal with. At the least, I would like to see independent – only formats in the run for the presidency. In conclusion, independence is the compliment of brilliance and novelty, and party politics is mediocrity.

Note: It could easily be interpreted that I support despotism. I don’t…unless the despot is exceptionally brilliant and moral in his ideas.

Spending

In our time, our nation is wealthier than ever, but more also has accumulated tremendous debt. The debt threatens social security for near – future recipients, as well as the lives of the uninsured sick. The problem obviously becomes, where should the government focus its spending on and where should necessary cuts be made. Spending and finding new ways to spend is easy, but making cuts is a difficult process based on an unfortunate but unavoidable game of priority. That said, some areas in government spending do need to be increased, and cuts are not the complete answer.

Firstly, and most obviously to me, the Iraq war must be terminated as soon as possible, without being careless, of course. According to the National Priorities Project, over $470 billion has been spent on the war in Iraq. This amount will continue to rise, and will do so drastically even if a careful withdrawal was begun today. I’ve said it many times in my blogs, but I’ll say it again: in order for stability to be achieved in Iraq, the hearts and minds of many, many Iraqis must be changed from a mindset of tyranny and radical religious violence. Militaries don’t do that, and the only way to achieve a forced stability is to resort to the most brutal enforcement tactics known to history.

The great vacuum of the modern educational system is deeply flawed, but reversing the system is not the issue for this blog; the focus, then, is on cutting money flowing to that vacuum. It is a vacuum that demands everything and gives nothing close to what is desired. Smaller classes and more teachers will cost countless dollars, and will not motivate unmotivated kids without direction – those kids’ issues run deep into their family structure and value systems that can only be fixed through a change in mindset of the generation responsible for those kids. The source of the success of successful people in society is not their grade schooling. Grade school is not anywhere near as important to success as a good family and a strong value system and people who will be successful in the future will do it with or without stronger science and math programs or smaller class sizes or more qualified teachers. Learning in individuals will take place, as well, on their own accord, and by their own level of desire. Look back into history and see that a century ago when the education system was much less extensive and had a much lesser percentage of the federal budget at its disposal, people got more from the system.

Right now, the government has two obligations it is not fulfilling or will not be able to fulfill in the future: health insurance for children and social security for people in the future who are paying for the security now through taxes. Having no health care for even one child is obviously unacceptable, and every minor must be given health care coverage from the government. The social security system cannot be allowed to collapse for people paying for it now. Tax money that should go to the SS system goes to the general fund immediately after being received, as it is. This is unacceptable.

Iraq is obvious, but the education system cuts result from deep flaws in a system developed over hundreds of years and is definitely debatable. Much spending must be done, but I have focused on more obvious and immediate concerns. Ultimately, risks must be taken and time must tell the truth, as the process is always an experiment.