Tannishblog

Being an early riser afforded me the honor of being the first in my precinct to cast my paper ballot. At 6:12 this morning I fed the cards into the reader. No touch-screen for me…

Here in the hinterlands of the Southwest coast of Lake Michigan, in the County of Cook, the Blue Party rules. Notwithstanding the added political clout that money brings to the Red Party, we are mostly content with cooler colors. Not that the Blues are innocent of the same temptations that so pervade the Reds on a national level recently - far from it - still, we are happy where we stand.

This year there area few other colors available to choose. The Green Party is getting some traction in Illinois, and I applaud their efforts. It’s not easy being the outsiders. The governorship is a three way race this year, both Red and Blue have dirty fingernails, so aren’t easy to recommend, too mired in their prospective machines for my liking. So I chose Green instead.

At the county level, mostly a mystery to most voters, I think, because little air time is given to local candidates, a couple of Greens are available to choose as well. Out of ignorance of the local issues and the candidates stances, I vote Green there, too. Here’s why:

Lately our national congress has been lax in oversight of the Iraq debacle, of outrageous spending and waste, and of the behavior of many of the personalities in government. This is because the Reds control all three branches of federal government and because they can’t resist behaving like spoiled children on holiday. For the past few years debate has been dead in the hill. Debate is the heartbeat of a healthy Democratic process. Without the tug-of-war of polite argument a nation has no right to call itself either a Democracy or a Republic.

How, then, to defibrillate our nation’s heart again? By offering more choices of political parties. Imagine a congress made of three or four viable, competitive political affiliates, each with a voice commensurate with the fickleness of the voting public. Less chance of one-party rule, less chance of the resulting authoritativeness we’ve been experiencing. Parties would be forced to (gasp!) compromise, form alliances and (gasp again!) work together to further the will of the many instead of the power of the few.

Isn’t that what we’re all about in this country?

I’ve been impressed with the systems in Europe and in Israel of a multi-party congressional aggregate. This provides more flexibility on behalf of representation, and gives smaller voices a chance to be heard. In our current system, the small voices are easily shouted over. I’d live to see that become reality, however unlikely it seems. Because of this, I vote Green even if I don’t know how they stand. If enough people try this, the Greens will gain traction and (hopefully) become a force. Perhaps other fringe groups will also make gains. They can greatly change how our government works just by being big enough to gain a few seats.

So: Gimme some choice! I want more parties available to me, so I can better vote my conscience instead of forcing it to fit into someone else’s.