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‘Stuck in the Middle With You’: Manteca politics & party animals
PERSPECTIVE
stuck in the middle

Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right, here I am
Stuck in the middle with you

—      Lyrics from Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You”

 

The late Rush Limbaugh said a lot of things. A whole lot of things.

One tends to do that when you make money — a lot of money — from talking.

Realizing the mere mention of his name draws lightning quick react from those who admired him and those who despised him, once in a while he would say something that his most adherent supporters and his most severe critics agreed on.

It was his occasional pronouncement that those seeking the middle ground in America hold no values and stand for nothing.

The “my way or the highway” is not what made America great.

Nor did is lay the cornerstone of American compassion.

There are Democrats that deny there is inflation

There are Republicans that deny Joe Biden won the election.

Believe it or not, they have a common ground.

They are party animals.

And as such, they “party” by escaping reality.

The non-stop partying anchored in absolute obedience to a rigid list of beliefs is cut from the same cloth as real-world totalitarianism regardless of whether those in control lean hard right or lean hard left.

And in practice when partiers are drunk on power, have their judgment skewed by flash group mentality, or are offended that someone doesn’t want to partake what they are high on in terms of political objectives they often become vulgar.

Naturally, those who “party hardy” tend to be the loudest in the room. That means they are the voices that we hear loud and clear drowning out anyone that is not as boisterous.

That is where we are at today in virtually every corner of American whether it is the national stage or closer to home in Manteca.

Belong to a party these days led by those that channel John Belushi’s character in “Animal House” but with a dagger-sharp edge and you’d better toe the line.

The ones that don’t blindly drink the Kool-Aid offered them are mocked.

They are despised as  RHINOs — Republicans in Name Only — or old broken down donkeys.

Mocked by the party animals, they are kicked to the side as being irrelevant and on the path to distinction.

But they are the ones — along with those that have shed party labels in terms of their voter registration — that represent the majority of Americans.

They certainly don’t all agree.

Buy they do share a common desire to make things work.

Life only works when there is give and take, compromise, accommodation, and other concepts.

That is especially true when you live with others. That goes for the 329.5 million other Americans, the 39.35 million other Californians, and the 88,000 other Mantecans

Those concepts are foreign to those that who view themselves as pure red or pure blue. Pureness is something that an aspiring artist in Vienna 115 years ago used to become a household  name even today.

One — as an example — can’t be against gun control, skeptical of portions of the green agenda, be a highly decorative soldier who served their country, against unrestricted abortion, be an advocate for strong law and order as well as hold strong religious beliefs and be a Democrat

Nor can you have favor targeted gun control, embrace green objectives while arguing against the manner in which they are reached, favor choice, support law enforcement and the criminal justice system but not do so blindly, and not hold string religious believes and be a Republican.

The reality is anyone who holds any of those beliefs — whatever side you hold near and dear as well as the flip side — are Americans through and through.

It is our differences — ethnicity, beliefs, various faiths and the absence of, backgrounds, as well as economic and social status — that have been forged together to make America.

Don’t look now, but in some ways we are edging back toward the very cesspools of how people were treated as subservient to privileged power that our ancestors escaped.

Our version of the nuts and bolts democracy is different than Great Britain’s. Power in the United States is concentrated in two parties that have embedded themselves into the government structure via the the manner in which elections are conducted.

There is no need to build coalitions bringing together groups of people holding views that aren’t in lock step-in order to govern. Instead, you simply have to have a higher body count after election day. And, if you don’t win hold the majority you start immediately working toward the next election two years later instead of reaching out to build coalitions to govern

There is no fear of a third, fourth, or fifth party of any consequence rising from the quagmire.

That is because at the end of the day primary elections conducted at the expense of all taxpayers basically serve to elect the candidate that appeals to the base of two parties that appear on the ballot.

Open primaries allowing “declined to state” to  vote as well as those registered for a particular party to vote for whoever they wish regardless of party affiliation has not done enough to loosen the grip of hardcore party animals whether they or blue or red.

As such, the views of those that are various shades of purple — the blending of blue and red positions — have minimal impact in the election process.

Yes, when enough of them agrees those in power aren’t cutting it can tip the scales to the other side.

But that’s it. They tip the scale to the other side and not a place in between that would be more balanced in terms of how government operates.

The two-party system as it stands is not designed to strike a balance.

Instead, it swings the access wildly back and forth.

That could be what the Founding Fathers had in mind.

But it would seen more likely they were seeking to create a governance system where there is a melting pot stew with ever changing flavor but was still a stew and not 100 or so separate ingredients in separate pots on the stoves.

As it stands now, we don’t build coalitions. We elect pure red or pure blue party animals

Their objective is to serve their hardcore party constituency and not broadly govern the country, the state, major cities and — if they had their druthers — our smaller cities and towns.

 

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com