politics
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I like this guy. I’ve liked him for a long time. He’s one of the very few Republicans who, as a leftie, I can look across the aisle and see not an opponent but a fellow American with some differing opinions but who is still a patriot. I see a person who puts country over party.
But I also see a man who is, now, without a party. His version of the Republican Party no longer exists.
Edit: my point in this, I should have gone on to say, is that he, and other classical Republicans like him, should form a new party. This country needs more parties. Like a further-left Progressive party. With ranked choice voting in every state, this could become normalized.
Currently, we have the Libertarian and Green parties, but they’re… weird. If we had 3rd parties that were, well, not weird, politics in this country would be a lot healthier.
I have no opinion on this guy. I've never heard of him before. However, I will say that what you're describing is what I want out of an opposing party. So often the term "the other side" is thrown around, that most people forget it's supposed to be "The other side of the coin" with the coin itself being America. The other party isn't supposed to be your enemies. You're supposed to have a problem that needs solved. This group has this set of ideas to solve it, and that side has that set of ideas on how to solve it. Then the voters come along and say "Oh, l like this set." and another person will say "Well I like THAT set". Then, after the votes are tabulated, and everybody has had their say, a clear winner will come out, and that's what we'll do.
Somewhere along the way, it became more about WHO is in power, rather than WHAT they represent. Then it becomes more about playing a series of immoral games that go against the very fabric of what this country is supposed to stand for. When your play against the spirit of your country, your country becomes a different country.
So now we use things like gerrymandering, and vote manipulation, and using dead people to vote in current elections, and trying a coup against the government itself.
Is this America now?
Is this what America represents? Because if so, I'm NOT a patriot. I'm NOT proud of my country. I'm here because my family is here, and I have a stronger connection to my family than I do leaving the country. But what have we even come to in the modern day?
So for you to say that this guy represents what I've said the other side SHOULD represent, it means that maybe, just maybe, there are still some hard working, moral, honest republicans out there. I still will won't vote for them, but not because I hate them. Simply because they represent THAT set of ideals, and I want THIS set of ideals. Which is how it should be. But I don't see them as my enemy.
Kinzinger lost his job because he was one of the very few Republicans who sat in the Jan 6 Committee and actually did his fucking job. And he did it honestly and well. For that, he got maligned by Trump and the rest of his party and voted out of office.
But, through all of it, he did his job and spoke out against the corruption he faced. The man was an honorable public servant and served his district, state, and country.
I strongly suggest you look into him and even watch some of his interviews.
Very well said. The key question is how do we, as a society, turn politics back onto that course, of considering the what and the how, not the person or the party.
The problem is more widespread than just America, it seems to take root anywhere you have an elected representative system and the electorate forget that they are the key part of the system.
I don't know if there is a polite way of putting this, but 3rd parties are a bit crazy. It's not that 3rd parties are inherently bad, but we're a first past the post system. 3rd parties tend to act as spoilers to whichever party they are closer to. Until the spoiler effect is fixed, you have to be a little crazy to run as a 3rd party candidate.
And like you mentioned, ranked choice is one of the options to making 3rd parties viable. But the leadership for the democrats is luke warm on it and republicans are actively working against it. It's going to take a bipartisan grassroots effort to drag these curmudgeons into a better system.