PARTY POOPER!
Destruction Of Democratic, Republican Parties Essential For Return To Dignity
EDITOR’S NOTE – This article, published in part below, first appeared in the October 1990 edition of Underground Texas and reflects a problem that exists still today. It was written by W. Leon Smith, who at that time published Underground Texas, a short-run Texas newspaper that predated the creation of The Lone Star Iconoclast by about 10 years.
Part of one of the Underground Texas covers from 1990.
We had an interesting conversation with a Republican candidate for State Representative recently, as he was “burning shoe leather” and appealing for votes. What he was “hearing from his constituents” was that they were disgusted with both the Republican and Democratic parties and were hoping that both would self-destruct!
“They keep asking me if I agree with everything Claytie says,” he commented. “Then they ask if I’m a Bush man. And to top it off, they want to know if I find myself in line with Bill Clements. About the best I can do is tell them I agree with some of the things these guys say and do, but not all of them.”
Democrats have the same problem. “Are you a Dukakis Democrat?” the party’s candidates keep hearing…and the comparisons go on and on.
You might, off the top of your head, say that comparing Democrats to Republicans is like comparing apples to oranges. Wrong! It’s like comparing two vegetables!
Actually, both parties are inept in their ability to serve the middle class, who are the workers and earners and taxpayers in this country. The Democrats want to multiply your wealth by dividing it, while the Republicans want to give your hard-earned money to the rich and let them take care of it for you.
The Democrats want to “throw money at any and all problems.”
The Republicans want to “take money away from problem areas and starve them to death…that’ll solve the problems!”
Democrats generally edge their sentimentality toward socialism, douse it with plenty of hypocrisy, broker power among their own elite, and in general, tell a good lie.
Republicans, in general, tend to think that corruption is okay, they are social bigots (a bigger threat to Blacks than the KKK), and favor greed over conscience. They tell a bad lie.
Unfortunately, all these traits, however sadistic they may seem, are human. The players are sides on a coin…a “corporate” slug which uses these actors to keep the lowly peasant confused.
For awhile, the Democrats are in “power” and the Republicans are quick to extend blame to their opponents for all ills. Then, when the power shifts to new players, the situation is reversed for a few years. One gets us in a mess, so we naturally alternate to a lesser of evils, and the mess gets worse. Over and over again!
The problem lies not in the players necessarily, however despicable they are, but much to the system.
True, you “elect” these “choices” actually provided by PACs and they are supposed to follow your wishes with how they represent you. But do they?
Is the ever-increasing number of homeless neighbors your choice? Do you like to see the poor get poorer and the middle class slip downward? Is the IRS your friend? Do you like the way your government spends YOUR money? Do you favor wars of greed over wars of conscience? Do you like the way we’re dependent upon foreign fuel supplies? Are you REALLY secure in your life? Is your insurance company ripping you off and the government lets them do it? Will they pay if you have a major emergency claim? Why does the more and more you do require the expensive and questionable services of a lawyer or CPA? Are you one of the declining middle class who never quite qualifies for governmental assistance? Does “run-around” best describe what you get when you try to break through red tape?
These questions just kiss the surface. True security has gone the way of self-respect and dignity. They are fast becoming historical relics. The “human” aspect is as rare as a horned toad.
WHAT IF…tax returns were simplified and made fair for all groups of income earners?
What if you got to dictate on your tax returns just how your money would be spent? You set the priorities for the amount you pay! Why leave it to Congress, the Senate, and the President to decide, when every individual should have such a direct voice in the decision-making?
What if there were limited terms of office, throughout the political system?
What if Political Action Committees were silenced and the power of choice returned to individuals?
What if the term “career politician” became a thing of the past?
What if candidates were limited on how much they could spend on mass media messages or these were eliminated entirely and controlled forums were instead created?
What if officeholders were HELD TO THEIR PROMISES and could be convicted of treason and sentenced to lengthy jail terms if they did not deliver what they promised?
What if the REAL ISSUES of humanity were addressed instead of your tax money going to assure comfortable jobs for agency workers whose main objective is seeing to it that they will always have a job, hang the outward objectives?
What if the add-ons of the check and balance system were reviewed and altered to meet their original Constitutional intents?
What if the Democratic and Republican parties were purged from our system …
Unity of purpose is called for if change is to thrive. Please write this newspaper with your suggestions and thoughts. If you are willing to “carry the torch” on these and other projects, also let us know.
TRENCHWALKER….
“Remember Texas!”
We have been asked where the inspiration for Underground Texas came from. Was it something we read, was it a move, was it a personal experience? What?
Probably the chief source was the cries of the people. Disillusionment. Disgust.
Being in a position where we come in frequent contact with political candidates on one side and people who are upset with “the system” in general on the other, we felt we had a good feel for the pulse of our society.
As far as other influences which might have contributed to the decision to start Underground Texas, we have personally been targeted by some of the high-falutin powers that be and perhaps have experienced a twinge of a persecution complex.
Of note, the day before we actually conceived Underground Texas, this writer sat up half the night reading a book by James Wakefield Burke entitled David Crockett: The Man Behind The Myth. It was an extremely interesting book about the “legend” of the Alamo, but nothing all that inspiring. Our Texas heroes did some impressive things in those days and took a chance. That’s what we are trying to do. Texas could use a little drama.
Put all the above-mentioned elements together and you get the birth of Underground Texas. Apparently, the sobering truth evolved that for anything to be accomplished, a first step must be taken. We deemed that we were in a position to assemble some great Texas writers and as an ensemble come up with some workable ideas which people with good horse-sense could appreciate and get behind.
Anyway, we’re talking Texas’ trenches, and are hoping that the little guy will put on his six-guns and go with us as we round up the varmints who are trying to steal us blind.
There really is a battle of the corporate versus the individual in this state and nationwide, and the corporate side is winning.
In the book Modern Public Administration by Felix A. and Lloyd G. Nigro, it is stated: “The nation has long been plagued by the dilemma of how to retain the advantages of large-scale operations and at the same time preserve competition, protect the smaller businessman and the consumer, and avoid regulatory policies that unjustifiably slow up economic expansion.
“There always has been concern about corporate power, but now, with the domination of the economy by a relatively small number of giant companies, there is fear of the ‘corporate state.’ These companies are viewed as having become so powerful that they are shaping the ‘future in which the whole society will have to live.’”
Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith has taken it a step further by saying that some of the big companies are becoming so dependent on government orders and planning that they “will eventually become a part of the administrative complex within the state,” and predicts that “in time the line between the two will disappear.”
His prediction is today coming true, with government and corporations so intertwined that the negative activities of one has a like impact on the other. Unfortunately, the government is a machine that we, the individual taxpayers, own but don’t get to play with!
Government insiders and corporate headmasters are using a red-tape smokescreen to build pools of wealth and power impenetrable by the lowly masses…at least that’s what they think! Used to, in Texas we hanged horse thieves. It’s time we checked the back 40.
