Why political parties can't change

This blog is dedicated first and foremost to removing the Democratic and/or Republican parties from power as fair payment for their corruption and failures. Its just a matter of being fair and balanced. Nothing personal.

The nature of the two political

parties is human nature

Consider the Democratic and Republican parties. Who has real power and influence? Outsiders and newcomers? Life-long insiders, hard core partisans and major campaign contributors like MoveOn.org, American CrossRoads, Crossroads GPS, the American Enterprise Institute or Emily's list? Neutral and objective analysts? People like you? People like me? Common sense argues the real influence is with the money and life-long or partisan insiders. The money probably carries the most weight.

Why might that be? Why shouldn't outsiders or newcomers with no money but a good idea get a fair hearing? Three main reasons:

• One, ordinary outsiders don't have money. Like it or not, American politics is mostly pay to play, i.e., no pay, no play. The money is "extracting rent" from interest groups, which is just the cost of doing business with political power. There can be a great return on investment.
• Two, newcomers are not life-long insider activists. People tend to trust and work with people they know. That's human nature.
• Three, outsiders with a truly good idea will, more often than not, suggest something that goes against the grain of the prevailing political and/or religious ideology. The idea gets rejected and that's human nature too.

Asking too much?

Does it ask too much to expect real reform and openness to new ideas? If that description of human nature and political parties is mostly true, then would the Democratic or Republican parties be able to make meaningful reforms or open their thinking? Expecting real change at the heart of politics and the two party system asks too much.

Remember Newt's 1994 "Contract with America"? It went OK until it hit up against the part that said lobbyists had to be reigned in. Once that happened, the "contract" died and went away forever. Special interests with money didn't like it, end of story. The reigning in special interest money concept morphed into the corrupt K street project, a 180 degree flip. In politics, big money talks and most everything else walks.

How can anyone reasonably expect that to change? Why should it change? Money is a major pillar of the two parties. Without it, they would have to survive more on the merits and less on the publicity spin that hundreds of million of dollars buys. If the two parties had to survive on the merits, they would die. The money is critical life-support.

A softer appeal

Life-long insider activists have a different appeal. They are hard core ideologues and have often spent years toiling for the cause. They know they are right. The parties can't turn their backs on them. Why should the parties listen to much of anything form an outsider who goes against the grain? They shouldn't, right? Especially in the Republican party where ideology is king and RINOs are hunted down and shot. The Democrats may even be considering something like that for DINOs.

It is hard to see how either party can be open to new ideas or break free from special interest money. Both go against the grain, even though there is a crying need for new thinking. There is no plausible defense for the money other than buying votes, but everyone involved vehemently denies anything unsavory.

Homeless pragmatists and moderates

So, where do pragmatists and moderates go to get a fair hearing? Nowhere. No major third party is free of ideology. That seems to be why pragmatists and moderates slosh back and forth between the Republican and Democratic parties. Neither party represents their views, but there is no other place to go for political power. Nationally, people registered as independents are on a par with Democrats and Republicans. Despite the parity, pragmatists and moderates get no fair hearing for the most part.

Until pragmatists and moderates understand that the two big parties and the third parties do not share their views, those viewpoints will be largely ignored. The only way to change that is to form a third party based on (1) pragmatic thinking and politics and (2) rejection of special interest "access" bought by special interest money.

Given human nature and our pay to play political system, expecting meaningful reform from the Democratic or Republican parties is unreasonable. It won't happen unless forced by powerful outside pressure, like the collapse of our economy. Short of that, pragmatists and moderates will remain third class citizens behind special interest money and partisans.