Crucial Dilemma in American Politics
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 30 Apr 2012
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service
For quite a long time now, the American people have been caught in a crucial political dilemma. Although in theory we do have quite a good number of political parties, in practice there are virtually only two for all practical purposes. They are known as Democrats and Republicans, both of which are characterized by extremes. This makes it difficult for the American people in general to really have a clear-cut choice when it comes to elections.
US Major Political Parties
In the first place, both parties may be characterized by what it may be termed “tunnel-vision mentality.” This means each party tends to view everything merely from one or few angles only. Although both of these major parties do have something good to offer, yet their negative and destructive policies are creating surmountable problems to the entire American nation. Before we even think of doing something constructive, we need to bring these vital and deadly maladies into perspective.
In both parties we find their priorities heavily distorted. The welfare of the entire population is hardly ever sought in their overall policies that they seek to implement on both the national and international level. Judged by their actions, many members of each political party do not seem to carry much understanding or respect toward the four vital hierarchical laws, which are traditionally known as divine, natural, ecclesiastical and civic. Unless US politicians become fully aware of the nature of such laws, they can never serve as an asset to the nation.
Over the past few decades, any new political party that emerged always tended to bring together the worst, instead of the best, of both of these two leading political parties. This would include the Libertarian party as well. The time is now well overdue for the United States to have a new political party that would try to embody the good and constructive policies of the present two leading ones, Democrats and Republicans. In spite of the fact that American political problems have been going on for long, we still can solve them.
We may now proceed to outline the positive and destructive elements of these two leading parties. We will concentrate more on the negative because the objective of this presentation is to act as a good physician whose primary job is to pin-point our maladies and hopefully to propose afterwards an effective remedy for a complete cure. When Jesus was accused of dealing with bad people, he remarked: “The healthy do not need the physician but the sick ones do.” Our job here is to heal the leading minds of the nation who need enlightenment.
Democratic Party in Operation
Let us start with the Democratic Party by examining its strengths and weaknesses. We need to keep in mind here that every rule has exceptions. This means we do find democrats who do not represent the general way of thinking in the Democratic Party. This political party seems to give top priority on the vital needs of the middle class and poor. It seems to be very much concerned with the education of all children and with the health care of all people at all ages. Hence, a lot of money tends to be allotted on such areas.
Tens of thousands of students, as a result, are faced with opportunities that may prove to be very beneficial not only to them personally but also to the entire nation as well. This philosophy is based on the fact that the Democratic Party, as whole, tends to measure the strength of a country by the health and education of the nation’s people. Also, the Democratic Party is somewhat sensitive when it comes to the welfare of ordinary citizens, whom they do not want to see ever becoming exploited by big business.
Democrats view both parents and teachers as the greatest two assets for our children. They try to give teachers especially enough income to live fairly well. This will enable teachers to concentrate more on their work and the vital needs of their students. This would not be possible if, to survive, teachers must have two or three jobs. However, we need now to say something of the negative aspects of the Democratic Party, which is generally influenced by individuals who do not seem to have good understanding of higher laws.
In order to form a clear concept of the strengths and weaknesses of both leading political parties we need to have a clear concept of the four hierarchical laws, which are enlisted as follows: 1) Divine Law – consisting of God’s Ten Commandments to Moses, which are found in every religion by different names. 2) Natural Law – amounting to those laws that God put in nature from the outset, like the laws gravity and conception. 3) Ecclesiastic Law – dealing with religious laws enacted by religious leaders supposedly to save higher laws. 4) Civic Law – which is man-made law that can change from time to time.
Let us outline some policies in the Democratic Party that do not seem to take into consideration the observance of higher laws. In the Divine Law we find explicitly the words: “You should not kill.” This divine command applies to all spheres of life from conception to natural death. Although the Democrats do reveal, on the whole, respect for life from birth to natural death, they do not reveal to have a similar concern from conception to birth. They refer to the life of the fetus as “woman’s reproductive right,” which allows abortion on demand. Hence, the Civic Law takes precedence over a higher law, the Divine Law!
Problems in Perspective
Another defect or weakness in the Democratic Party is found in its blatant disregard of the Natural Law, which advocated from the early days of human creation that marriage is held between a male and a female. Those Democratic politicians that want to reveal respect for the Natural Law proposed to refer to “marriage” between people of the same sex not as marriage but as Civil Union. This means those in the so called “same sex marriage” would still share all the social privileges of the married couple in their “civil union” state.
It is very obvious that those in the Democratic Party who continue to advocate “women’s reproductive rights,” meaning abortion on demand are fully ignorant in the sphere of morality. They demonstrate no respect for both the Divine Law and the Natural Law. This also explains why it comes so natural to them to advocate “same sex marriage.” Unlike the Civic Law, both the Divine and Natural Laws are not enacted by the majority vote of the people. Enactment of such laws has been totally beyond their power.
Another negative trend in the Democratic Party lies in the fact that since the US Constitution advocates “separation between Church and State,” many within the party seem to object to the recitation of prayers in public buildings. Also, since the USA in general advocates “equality of opportunity for all Americans,” quite a few Democrats want homosexuals to occupy all positions of responsibility like, for example, becoming Scout Masters, to guide thousands of boy scouts in the nation.
When we consider that the Democratic Party really cares about the dire needs of the middle class and the poor, it is a pity that the negative elements we have just mentioned tend to make many people literally torn asunder with regret. The reason lies in the fact that the Republican Party has its extremes as well, as we shall soon see. We are beginning to notice the crucial dilemma Americans have in their nation’s politics. In the conclusion of this presentation, we may try to discuss briefly the people’s views in this matter.
Those that are unhappy with the negative aspects of the Democratic Party, before they shift to supporting the other political party, they need to raise a question: Would the Republican Party be a better political choice, considering that not all that glitters is gold? In our analysis of the philosophy and modus operandi of Republicans we are likely to explore that the strengths of Democrats reveal to be weaknesses of Republicans and the other way round. Let us now enlist some strengths of Republican followed by their weaknesses.
Republican Party in Operation
Republicans claim that all Americans have the right to pray in public, to display the Ten Commandments anywhere they wish, and to have sacred statues erected even on the top of mountains. Not long time ago, a huge crucifix in the west was removed on grounds that we cannot “promote one religion over another in a pluralistic society.” This reasoning reveals stupidity to say the least and arrogance to say the most, since all religions may built their icons anywhere they wish, considering that the USA is viewed as a country of freedom.
When it comes to church attendance and public prayers, Republicans often take the lead. Their open belief in the supernatural and their periodical prayers uttered before any major event in their lifetime is edifying. Besides, their concern about any human life in the process of birth might have saved the lives of very valuable and beneficial human beings that may turn out later to be a Mother Teresa, a Nelson Mandela, a Mahatma Gandhi, a Francis of Assisi, a Joan of Arc, and the list goes on and on.
After all, the lives of all those that are being formed in the womb are totally innocent and fully harmless. In fact, the moment they are born, many of those who see them do call them “angels” because of their harmless and innocent looks. In the educational process, Republicans try to stress the importance of cordial relations, of self-respect, and of good appreciation for everyone who tries to be beneficial in the community and elsewhere. Their respect for moral values is well known, which makes clergy-oriented people feel quite happy.
Needless to say, Republicans have their negative side as well, which we need to bring into the open with clarity. Republicans have claimed often that they are capitalists and that they obviously support the capitalist system. This explains why they try to do anything in their power to protect the wealth and money of the rich people. When they speak of taxes they tend to add always the phrase “across the board.” If the amount is 10%, one with $10 million will have $1 million taken away, while the one with $10 thousand will have $1 thousand taken away. The rich will still remain rich while the poor becomes poorer!
In this area, Republicans adamantly refuse to cooperate with Democrats in taking a considerably higher percentage of taxes from the rich. If Republicans were to take from the one that makes yearly $10 million just 50% of his income, he will still be left with $5 million dollars, which would still make him remain very rich. When it comes to taxing Americans, Republicans reveal conspicuous weakness in their ability to deal with people’s money. Besides, Republicans are primarily concerned with boosting the products of big corporations.
Capitalism Viewed as the Holy Cow
Since the United States is a capitalistic nation, Republicans seem to be fully determined to keep it that way. In one of his presidential speeches, Republican Mitt Romney made it clear, on more than one occasion, that he was a capitalist. He vouched that, if elected, he would keep the nation that way. There is no way that the Republican Party would ever do anything that tampers with the production and sales of the nation’s big corporations. And this includes the weapons industry as well.
Republicans, more than Democrats, want to continue to build more and more overseas military bases in addition to the 900 that already exist in more than 146 nations. Needless to say, they are there to be always ready to promote wars against any country that would oppose any US foreign policy. Since World War II, the list of wars the USA was engaged in is too numerous to enlist. Among the most recent ones we have Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Republicans, more than Democrats, wants the USA to remain the “policeman” of the world.
Although many Democrats, including the US Democratic President Barack Obama, want to cut down foreign military bases, Republicans want such foreign military bases to remain. In addition, they made it clear they want to add even more. In spite of the fact that the US military and wars brought this nation into $4 trillion dollars debt, Republicans would rather cut money from the vital needs of the American people than from the military budget. This would include teachers’ salaries, health care, social security, and other vital needs.
All these items are a matter of life and death for most Americans. And here is the real weakness of Republicans. They simply do not care what happens to Americans as long as the military industrial complex, like the sacred cow, is not financially touched. The majority of Americans, as a result of this Republican priority, are having numerous financial problems. Many are suffering a lot unnecessarily as a result. In addition, Republicans want to solve all conflicts with other nations through devastating wars, like they just did in recent times for quite a number of years in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Why are Republicans very vocal in claiming that life is sacred from the moment of conception, when in practice they view such a sacredness of life ending with birth for all practical purposes? Moreover, they have no scruples with the destruction of the infrastructure of cities, the annihilation of people’s places of habitation, and the massacre in tens of thousands of innocent people, amounting to millions, consisting mostly of women, children, the elderly and the sick, in addition to pregnant women as well.
Leading Political Parties in Contrast
So, while Republicans criticize Democrats for allowing abortions which are described as the “destruction of human lives,” they do not show one bit of remorse for killing tens of thousands of innocent people amounting to over a million that the world witnessed in both Afghanistan and Iraq. When some Republican officials were asked by the press to let them know how many Iraqi civilians were killed, the reply was quick: “We do not keep account of that since we view such incidents as collateral damage!”
In conclusion, let us summarize some of the major negative items both of these two leading US political parties have to offer. While Republicans view abortion as “murder,” Democrats view abortion as “women’s reproductive right!” While Democrats view the destruction of human lives in needless wars as “massacre,” Republicans refer to such ruthless massacres as “collateral damage!” While Democrats seek the strength of the nation in the health and education of the people, Republicans view the nation’s strength in having a strong military.
While Republicans show respect toward the Natural Law which views marriage as a union between male and female, Democrats maintain that same sex individuals have a “right” to get married as well. They seem to have no regard for the Natural Law. While Democrats are primarily concerned with the protection of the needs of the middle class and poor, Republicans are primarily concerned with the protection of the interests of the products of big industries, above all the weapons industry and the military industrial complex.
While Democrats do not seem to be in favor of seeing prayers and religious services conducted in public buildings, including schools, Republicans view open belief and faith in God has always been an integral part of the US Constitution. While Republicans want to allow all Americans to carry on deadly weapons as they please, including in colleges and universities, Democrats want to see some kind of adequate control as to cut down the number of murders considerably. In view of all this, we may now begin to comprehend the crucial dilemma people face in American politics.
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Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. – President, International Association of Educators for World Peace, Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education, Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament.
-Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University.
-Hon President & Professor, SBS Swiss Business School, Zurich.
-Member, TRANSCEND-A Network for Peace, Development and Environment.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 30 Apr 2012.
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