Clarifying 'The Bush and the Kenerry'

It’s a dainty gluttony to comment on your own work, especially when you’ve just written it. But my recent goopy fable is so marvelously critical and so utterly absent of a concrete solution that I feel obliged to add a couple notes.

First, a word on Chesterton. I hope no one walked away thinking Chesterton’s Liberalism would find him many kindred spirits among those who today call themselves Liberals. Chesterton had clear thoughts on so many issues that even Democratic - Presidential - Nominee - And Ex - Vietnam - Soldier - And - Ex - Vietnam - Protester John Kerry, upon meeting Chesterton, would find himself forced to articulate a few positions in order to disagree with him.

However, Chesterton would probably still be just as disgusted as ever with the Republican Party, if not moreso. He was the sworn enemy of Big Business, a trait he shared with other notable Catholics such as Popes. The Republican Party’s lip service to “life issues” has always been vitiated by its willingness to exploit for cash those of us who happen to make it past the Pill and the scalpel. And now it’s clarified its position on human dignity even further by swiping a few more of our civil liberties and launching yet another unjustified war. Hooray.

So if my clumsy analogy has any other point besides catharsis, it’s this: when the options given us are morally bankrupt, our vote has no use save protest.

Simply abstaining isn’t enough. I don’t think politicians are impressed by the vast hordes of Americans who appear too lazy, confused, or preoccupied with other equally fruitless hobbies to jog down to the booth and play political roulette. But perhaps they shiver at the quixotic few who are determined to vote for someone they respect, regardless of that person’s chance at winning. What if more people get the idea?

Long-term change won’t come unless we’re willing to suffer short-term losses. But then, who’s “we” and what is a “loss”? No matter what your views, do you really trust, respect, or even like either Bush or Kerry? Everyone stands to gain by breaking the Two-Party System. Everyone, that is, except politicians and their trusty keepers.

Back when Bush was elected (sort of), I thought America was tremendously lucky to have escaped the humiliation of Gore. Four years later, I have to wonder. Naturally anyone who thinks they invented the Internet and who could spend so much time with Bill Clinton without exploding could not have been good for the country, but I’ve ceased to be one of the many Catholics who naively assume that because Republicans say abortion is bad, they’re the better choice. Republicans do too many other bad things.

Would it be worth a string of Democratic presidents (or Republican presidents, if that’s your flavor) to grow the third, fourth, and fifth party votes until they broke the Two-Party Juggernaut?

If you don’t think so, I’d like to know why. True, it might not work. But if we don’t try, it definitely won’t work. And we needn’t fear—even if you and I blow our votes on someone who really would make a good President, say, Weird Al Yankovic, someone will still get elected. Is there so much to lose?

Of course, the small print is that I say all this without any idea who I plan to vote for. Certainly not Nader. Philosophy comes before action, and I reached my flashpoint so suddenly that I hammered out my awkward manifesto without the slightest hint of what I’d actually do at the booths. Now comes the research. I welcome your suggestions.

Not that I foresee any marvelous changes in the immediate future. Being a losing third party politician doesn’t make you an automatic paragon of virtue. But it would be something to break the juggernaut.

Fortunately, even if that doesn’t work, there’s still the other three years and 364 days (plus Feb. 29th) every Election Cycle to do something nice. I plan to change my socks.

Now, I have not lost my ideals in the least; my faith in fundamentals is exactly what it always was. What I have lost is my old childlike faith in practical politics. I am still as much concerned as ever about the Battle of Armageddon; but I am not so much concerned about the General Election. As a babe I leapt up on my mother’s knee at the mere mention of it.

G. K. Chesterton, The Ethics of Elfland, Orthodoxy