The EVIL of Two Lessers!
It’s time to play a NEW Game of Politics!
Forced to choose between two extreme alternatives, millions of Americans will pull a lever, push a button, or punch a card today with the empty feeling they are settling for less than they deserve.
If you are like me, you will feel you are casting your vote for the…
“Evil of two lessers!”
I mean no personal offense to any candidate. I respect and applaud them for their public service, and admire them for enduring the rigors of the brutal and dirty game of politics.
But neither candidate running in my state truly speaks for me. From the people I speak to regularly, few of their candidates speak for them, either.
It’s pretty clear that politics needs fixing when the people who spark the greatest enthusiasm among the electorate are not on the ballot. People we trust to lead us are not in the game. With the mind-boggling talent we have in our country, it’s a blight on our house that the choice comes down to the…
“Evil of two lessers!”
Nothing will change until we have a viable third choice.
WE NEED A THIRD PARTY. NOW!
It’s time for a NEW Game of Politics™!
Most of us don’t view life from the far left or the far right. On some issues I am conservative (I want to “conserve and preserve”), and on other issues I am liberal (“open to other possibilities”).
As strange and contradictory as this may seem to people on one extreme or the other, there are some issues in which I hold both conservative and liberal views. Call me a “Flip-flopper!” It’s possible to hold two opposing views on the same issue, and see merit in both. People who can’t live with paradox need an either/or choice. But paradox replaces paradigm in this new game. Most issues are NOT black or white.
Even though most of us do not live at one end of the political spectrum, the old game gives us a limited, forced choice between left or right, liberal or conservative, line A or line B, Democrat or Republican.
The game is rigged to favor the few at the extreme, at the expense of the many in between. We settle for the evil of two lessers.
Conservative is not a radical, fanatical, fundamentalist, imperialist ideology as some on Air America radio suggest (although the rabid right sure make it seem so). Liberal is not a disease contracted by slimy, spineless, treasonous traitors as Rush, Sean, Ann and their ilk would have you believe (although the loony left often gives them plenty of ammunition to spew their venom).
Listen to the blather on radio or watch the boob-filled tube, and you would never know there is a middle of the road in America, people who can actually see both sides of complicated issues, and discuss them with respect, compassion and dignity.
What we hear and see is a small circle of people representing the firmly entrenched extremes, trying to shout louder and persuade harder that theirs is the only valid Worldview.
Over the past decade, since the “cable shot heard round the clock” the media have steadily degraded in content and courage. More has become less. It’s devolved into a gladiator-like sporting event, with split screens, incessantly crawling news, visual montage, and on air entertainers disguised as news commentators. With a few notable exceptions, the media has all but abandoned any pretense of providing a forum for civil discourse, sensible discussion, and open debate.
I applaud Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Bill Maher for shining a light on politics and the media for what they have become – a two-ring circus doing a 24/7 high wire act. With the media tightly run by a small number of powerful companies, it’s inevitable that we at the end of the pipeline get spun and filtered news. Forget their slogans; look at what this mighty medium serves up. It’s enough to make you gag.
It’s a national disgrace that we don’t use the public airwaves as a forum for civil dialogue with honest and open debate. Conversation degrades into a highlight reel from the Jerry Springer Show. Politics has become so dirty and disgusting, the best and the brightest among us won’t play the game for fear our private lives will become instant tabloid fodder.
Who doesn’t have a skeleton in the closet?
There are legions of Americans who would like to serve the public good and be active in the political process, but they will not play the game, knowing the minefield is really a pigpen filled with professional politicos slopping at the trough.
Politics has always been dirty, but in the past much of it was done in smoke filled rooms and behind closed doors. Today, the fourth estate co-conspires with the political parties to make the game even nastier and filthier. With a drooling, insatiable media monster needing to feed its hunger 24/7/365, they look under every rock, dig up any kind of dirt, or smoke out any salacious detail that will get and keep viewer eyeballs.
With the abduction of our airwaves, the polarization of politics, and the lack of visionary leadership, we are moving perilously close to a terminal prognosis. If we don’t perform radical surgery, or create an alternative soon, the government will get too big and the media too powerful to be reigned in.
This is a defining moment.
The great American experiment is at a watershed time.
We need a national discussion that represents all views, all sides, all perspectives, and all people.
It’s time for a conversation of the people, by the people, for the people, and with the people.
If there were ever a time for NEW, it’s NOW!
It’s time for transformation.
It’s time for…
New media!
New politics!
New leadership!
This is not a Democrat or Republican thing, not a liberal or conservative thing, nor a left or right wing thing.
It’s an American thing. Really, it’s a human thing.
We pride ourselves on having the freedom that guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Freedom of speech is sacred to a democracy. Squelching civil discourse or limiting public debate to only two extreme positions moves us away from democracy and towards autocracy.
The only game with fewer than two choices is a game with ONE choice!
The ONE choice game is communism, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism.
We need more, not fewer choices.
Americans are force-fed an either/or choice for most political offices. The only thing that matters to the two parties is that they get our vote. All they care about is whether you are red or blue. I’m not red, and I’m not blue.
America is not red or blue, black or white, left or right.
We are red and blue, black and white, left AND right.
WE NEED A THIRD PARTY.
REAL POWER is shifting! The Internet is an equal opportunity game that levels the playing field. It’s a place to speak your mind, share your views and be heard. It’s a quantum leap in the direction of “we the people” taking back our power.
We spend trillions of dollars every year to protect us against attack by other countries, outside forces, and extremist groups who wish to divide us and even destroy us.
We must be equally vigilant that the freedoms that guarantee life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are never subverted or destroyed by forces from within.
It’s my fervent hope that before I cast the final vote of my lifetime, we will have more and better choices than the evil of two lessers!
We deserve more, not less.
WE NEED A THIRD PARTY.
Whoever is elected in this most vital mid-term election, one thing is crystal clear:
It’s time for a NEW Game… of Politics, of Media, and of Leadership.
Get out of the stands and on to the field. We desperately need you.
Be a player.
You CAN change the game.
I’ll meet you on the field.
Mitch Axelrod
CEO – Chief Encouragement Officer™
“The NEW Game™!”
