The dangers of pendulum politics

As the pendulum swings back and forth in the political arena in America it seems that at each apex it is given a good solid shove in the other direction causing a higher swing in the other direction. This is a dangerous road to travel. If we are not careful we will find out one day that someone has seized the pendulum and it is coming back neither to the middle, nor to the other apex. For this reason we must be careful when we choose idealists to represent us.

One aspect of American politics that is similar to playing with dynamite is the two party system. Here we try to force the gamut of ideas into a dichotomy and by doing so we have not allowed the range of free expression necessary for a flourishing society.  As we allow for new ideas to edge their way into politics we allow pull on the pendulum from every direction. By doing this we can hope for a freer society in which we do not have to worry about the next large swing of the pendulum being the last. We can hope for balance. The public discourse can only benefit from being pulled in a new direction. It is for this reason that our founding fathers gave us the right to free speech. They knew that is would be necessary that the people could speak their mind when the government began to stop representing their interest.

The current system allows for a monopoly on political thought. It awards too much power to far too few people.  The sad truth however is that third parties ruin elections. It is my opinion that the second a third party has the audacity to make a run at public office many parties should do the same. This will allow for the balance that I previously spoke of.

We cannot allow the far left and far right to make all of the decisions for everyone caught in-between. Though many of us favor one side of the spectrum, rarely do we subscribe completely to the foggy ever changing mush that each party calls its platform.

In the mean time vote your conscience. Do not deceive yourself. Think before your believe anything a politician says. Pray for a better tomorrow.