Recent history

In the first post here, I indicated that the main goal isn't endlessly complaining about what Democrats or Republicans did badly or failed to do. The goal is to test California voter's interest in forming a new party that is marked by a few core concepts. Those concepts include better service to the public interest, intelligent pragmatism over political or religious ideology, competence and transparency. This blog is here to articulate reasons why a new political party makes sense. This post gives a historical perspective on why a new party is both justified and needed in California.

The end of World War II

Can you recall from your life, what you learned in school or later in your life about the end of WWII through today? What was the state of the world in 1945 compared to 2010? A reasonable summary in the context of politics might see recent history this way.

• America was the only major power that was not bombed into the dark ages (Japan, Germany) and/or bankrupt (Italy, Germany, Japan, England, Russia, Eastern Europe).
• America had abundant natural resources, unlike Japan, Germany and England.
• America had the largest industrial infrastructure on the planet and built it up further, e.g., the interstate highways starting in 1956.
• American innovation was unmatched, e.g., the internet started in the late 1970s based mainly on American technology. There were dozens of other areas where American technology dominated.
  
• America had some of the best, if not the best institutions of higher education in the world.
• America had a relatively manageable level of debt at the end of WWII, compared to the snarling beast we face now.
• America and Americans were generally reasonably well-liked around the world compared to the situation today.
  
• America had the best form of government of any nation on Earth. Consider Chairman Mao in China. He set China's economy back by decades in pursuit of his lunatic political ideology like making educated people work on farms shoveling manure in his nutty "Cultural Revolution", his failed "great leap forward" and other silly nonsense. The Russians were no more intelligent. Unfortunately for us, the Chinese have woken up and become pragmatic - now they are a real threat.
  

We owe them

Why are we dependent on foreign oil and bleeding trillions of precious dollars in American wealth to countries who pretty much hate our guts. It was the case that at least some people in politics could see impending problems, but nothing came of it. Do you wonder why? I can think of some reasons, most of which have to do with political self-interest, incompetence and corruption.

Here we sit

So, here we sit today. Deep in debt to our enemies. Highly politically polarized into one of two ideologies, both of which have failed and both of which blind most people to reality. America is stuck in two endless wars, one of which was completely unjustified. Both were botched in their execution. Those wars are marked by huge human and economic costs, both here and in the unfortunate countries where we fight. We are in the neighborhood of $1 trillion spent to date. Iraq alone will cost $2-3 trillion by the time all of the bills over the next couple of decades are paid.

Either you like the Democratic or Republican parties and their "leadership" or you don't. As I see it, there are compelling reasons to not like or trust either of them. They have had all political power from the end of WWII until today. Therefore, they get 100% of the credit, if you like today's situation, or blame if you don't.

We could have and should have done better. Much better. The options are pretty simple: Try to fix what is broken, try something different or do nothing. You decide. My decision should be clear.