by Adja Roznic

Created on: January 15, 2009

If you have read, watched, or listened to the media in the couple of months, you have no doubt heard all sorts of things about the upcoming election. For example, you may have heard about how the media and fellow Republicans are criticizing John McCain for being too far to the "left" on some of the issues. Perhaps it is not that he is deserting his party's ideas, but simply doing what is a government official should. He is doing what is expected of a leader; leading. Many times, politicians feel obliged to vote and act along party lines.

If all politicians were to do this, we would never be able to achieve anything in our nation. All ideas, even those that are first-rate, would be met by equal opposition. It is time to break through the partisan stalemate in the United States of America, and move forward!

The first three words of the United States Constitution are, We the People. The goal of the Framers was to give the power to the people. There is also no reference to political parties of any sort in the Constitution. I believe that they did this purposely. If there are political parties, some rights of the people are sure to be sacrificed.
For example, if there is a bipartisan system in place, although the people are not forced to belong to one of the parties, the majority of people do affiliate themselves with one of the major parties. Everyone wants to be on the "winning team". Unfortunately the independent candidates normally just can't match the funding, resources, or publicity of the Democratic or Republican candidate. When you elect a representative, you are giving up your rights and in turn the representative is supposed to wellrepresent you. This is understood by all citizens. However, when you vote for a representative that is a constituent of a major party, in essence you are voting for all of the ideas that their party represents, since the majority of politicians vote along party lines.

As mentioned, often independent candidates are usually at a disadvantage. An example of this is the campaign of Dr. Ron Paul of Texas. In 1992, Ron Paul ran for president as a Libertarian. He realized that without a major party affiliation, he had been counted out of the race. Later, he switched to the Republican Party. Yet, he remained independent and free of partisanship in his actions. As a Republican in the United States Congress, he has demonstrated a voting record that has demonstrated his personal views as well as those of his congressional district. He has broken out of the political gridlock, unlike other politicians in our government, who feel that partisanship is more important than leadership and solving our nation's problems.

Today, many citizens, from newborns to veterans, face difficulties like health care and financial security. If these problems and others are to be solved the men and women in Washington D.C. must work in a bipartisan way. The views of Democrats and Republicans on these issues do differ, but they must work together! As of March 31st, 2008, a mere 23 percent of those polled said that they approved of the job Congress is doing. People want to see progress. This cannot happen unless politicians realize that they are elected to represent the people, and that they may have to stray from partisan views to do so.

America is in crisis. We are fighting a war against terrorism, going into (if not already in) a recession, and yet our biggest problem is the party line that been drawn through our democracy. American citizens, especially those that are politicians must cross this party line, and help our nation move forward.

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