Amash and the Two-Parties

Ronald Reagan famously said, when becoming a Republican, "I didn't leave the Democrat Party.  It left me."

That has always resonated with me, not exclusively with the Democrats, but with the Republicans, too.  I don't identify with either party and often I refuse to vote for candidates they offer.  Neither party is what it was 50 or 40 or maybe even 30 years ago.  They have both changed, moved, and not for the better.

On July 4, West Michigan Congressman Justin Amash announced he was leaving the Republican Party, becoming an Independent.  Good for him!  The parties, as he correctly stated, have become "an existential threat to American principles and institutions."  They have become concerned more with themselves, with grabbing and holding power.  That's not, in itself, a bad thing.  After all, if one doesn't get elected, one can't do anything.  But once they get elected, both Republicans and Democrats, they do all they can to remain in power, for themselves, not for the American people.  Some folks will dispute that, but from where I'm sitting it's true.  Neither has represented me; neither has reflected the values and principles I hold dear.  "I didn't leave the _____ Party.  It/They left me."

My hopes that Amash's departure will spark a major difference are small.  Few people care.  They blindly vote the way their unions or professional organizations tell them to vote.  They vote for the candidates who raise the most money, regardless of their effectiveness in office.  It's become de rigueur to "Hold your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils."  Bah!  When given a choice between two evils, choose neither.  That's what Amash has done.

For doing so, he is to be commended.  But what does the President do?  Instead of praising one who leaves "the Swamp," he goes off on one of his typical cowboy tweets/twits (or whatever they are called) and called Amash "disloyal" and "one of the dumbest" members of Congress.  Particularly ironic and hugely funny is that Trump had the gall to actually call someone else "a loser."  (Trump supporters, spare me your invective.  I'll never vote for him.  But we can agree to disagree with civility.)

Rather than merely playing party politics, going along to get along, perhaps more elected officials, especially in Washington, would do well to think about Amash and his reasons for defecting.  (I'm using that word for fun.)  If more joined the Amash bandwagon......