by Cindy A. Matthews
Everything seems to be going downhill quickly these days in the US economy and in the political arena. Not being a politically active type of person, I can’t imagine the stress and horror die-hard Wall Street types and party members must be feeling lately. My husband and I discussed the dire situation we’re all in the other day and hit upon what we feel is the perfect solution to all our problems.
We simply need to junk the current two party system and begin again.
As Thomas Jefferson once said, “A government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything away,” so we're going to do just that--take it all away. To this end, we have started a third party that will sweep the next federal elections and clean out the seriously-self-centered halls of Congress. It will be a party of the little people (not that we can’t stand to lose a few pounds, but pasta is so much cheaper than meat when you’re living on unemployment). It will be a party made up on non-career politicians who only want to serve their fellow little people and then come home to the family farm, ranch, restaurant, shop, etc. You know—the way the original founders sort of envisioned our elected representatives would be like before all this political party bickering began in the election of 1800.
And we think we have just the right name for it.
“The-Mad-As-Hell-And-We’re-Not-Going-To-Take-This-Anymore” party or (TMAHAWNGTTTA party for short) is titled after that classic line from the classic film Network. Howard Beale (our party mascot—who needs an elephant or a donkey?) was a news anchor who told everyone to go to their windows and start screaming our party’s name until something happened to fix the world’s ills.
Network was quite a prescient story, and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the mid 1970s and the early 21st century have a lot in common—energy crisis, pollution crisis, unemployment, corrupt politicians (remember Watergate?), trouble in the Middle East , etc. So now is the time to learn from our mistakes we made forty years ago and clean up our economy and Congress and our environment all at the same time. As another little man once said, “The buck stops here,” and we’d better stop it in case it slides down further in comparison with other world currencies.
For Mad-as-Hell president we’re thinking of nominating Weird Al Yankovic. “Why Weird Al?” you may ask.Weird Al’s parody songs demonstrates he’s a keen observer of the culture and what’s wrong with it. Even if he can’t fix everything within four years he can at least entertain us with a polka version of the Star Spangled Banner. For vice president, my hubby suggests Sarah Palin (to gain the media’s notice) but I’m leaning more toward Cyndi Lauper. “Girls just wanna have fun” and who is having any fun in a time of economic and political crisis? Cyndi may just be able to help us on this very important point. (And I like how she spells our shared first name to boot.)
Our platform will be made out of good old-fashioned, renewable wood. We stand for clean air, clean water, clean food, clean cities, clean language on the TV and clean underwear. But most of all we stand apart from those other politicians who seem to think that pointing the finger at the guy (or gal) across the aisle from them in the House of Representatives somehow defines what “good government” should be like.
If you want to join our party and start the crusade toward sanity, please feel free to forward this blog to your friends, family and other members of the human race. Tweet it up and Facebook and Google+ it to death. We’re “Mad-As-Hell-And-We’re-Not-Going-To-Take-This-Anymore” and we’re coming soon to a local, state, and/or federal office near you. We thank you for your support.
(Editor's note: Feel free to "like" our new Facebook Page: The Mad-As-Hell Party Thank you.)
7 comments :
Ok, good start. But the standard issues need to be defined. One of the biggest issues in US politics today goes back to the early Federalist debate - big government vs. smaller government. Where does this party stand? What about foreign policy? Mid-east policy? It's easy to take a campaign stance on foreign issues, but once in office it becomes clear that there is such a big tangle that we can't just pull back and keep our noses out of it. What then? Obama made all kinds of promises of change while campaigning, and a lot of people bought into it. Then once in office... another war (in a country that has nothing to do with our interests)! Was Obama a liar or did he see that the reality is different than seen from the campaign trail and there is no way to simply 'change'. What about those earmarks that he promised he would veto on any bill that had them? Even this grassroots party sees things with rose colored glasses. What happens when the elected officials from IMAHAINGTTIA (or however you spell it) get in office? Can we really believe another candidate will make the changes he/she promises? Sorry for the jaded view, but we've been shown over and over that jade is the reality not the color of glasses.
Definitely the Mad-As-Hell party is for "little government" as pertains to government that helps the "little guy" more than giving out free handouts to "big business". As far as foreign policy, we're all for recognizing that most of the world is not American, and we will do our best to live in peace and harmony as much as it depends on us. One thing we're not for is lying to the public, so hopefully our ambiguous answers will not be interpreted as such--it's just that we don't know everything at this point and we won't pretend that we do. :)
Go Weird Al and Cyndi in 2012!! :)
Lobby firms seem to be among the biggest culprits when it comes to skewing democratic government. Under our party we will give lobbyists exactly one minute to state their case - and they have to do so without hesitation, deviation or repitition. If they fail, they're shown the door.
I certainly love Weird Al. The name definitely indicates a man who has nothing to hide. Frankly, I'd like to see an end to the party system entirely. Two parties have messed things up and three has made a disastrous mess of everything. I've been writing back and forth with friends who are espousing a return to the 60's, taking it to the streets. Remember Guerilla Theatre? I think it's time for some flashbacks.
We're with you, Zo, on eliminating the two party system and parties altogether... But it is difficult to get enough campaign funds running as an independent candidate. Saying that, the Mad-As-Hell party will strive to be a loosely confederate group of like-minded individuals who want to see positive change in our society, and not a monolith agency that claims "it's our way, right or wrong, or the highway" that the current major parties are noted for.
Guerilla theatre? Yeah...sounds great! We could even bring in some gorillas...dressed in black suits and power ties to represent our current gov't representatives. ;)
If we stay with singers, I nominate the Capital Steps for cabinet positions.
Erika
Rock on, Erika! The Capital Steps would make excellent cabinet members... Can you imagine how productive discussions around the cabinet table could be while everyone is singing a funny song? ;)
Vote Mad-As-Hell in 2012!
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