The Partisan Identity Crisis

I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.
-Will Rogers

Intellectually I'm probably a Republican.
-Sting

I recently blogged about the shifting tectonics within the Republican Party. It is likely to cost them the 2008 election. But today, I would like to discuss in greater length the identity crisis in both political parties, and the general malaise that is growing across the country with the Two Party System.

Having spent the vast majority of my conscious life involved in politics, it is a subject that inevitably comes up in the course of normal conversation. When I first meet somebody, the introducer generally notes my political past, and the first question then arises: Are you a Republican or a Democrat? This question is increasingly difficult to answer. When speaking of the 2006 Midterm elections, I frequently say "Well, I am elated that the Republicans lost, but am devastated that the Democrats won."

If you polled 100 people on the questions "What does it mean to be a Republican?" and "What does it mean to be a Democrat?" you would get as many answers. For today, the Democrat raison d'etre is opposition to the War in Iraq. Yet there are numerous Republicans in Congress and out in society who hold the same position, so certainly that isn't the defining issue.

There are Republicans who are Pro-Choice, Democrats who are Pro-Life, Republicans who support Gay Marriage, Democrats who oppose it. There are tax-hiking Republicans and tax-cutting Democrats; Republicans who favor massive federal spending and Democrat deficit hawks. There are pacifists on both sides of the aisle and war-mongers just the same. There are Green Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats. Partisan identity is increasingly more a function of geography than ideology. Candidates in both parties are forced to deal with the inertia of the aging population and simultaneously confront the disaffection of Generation Y. Gen X is apathetic, Gen Y would care if somebody cared about them. The Baby Boomers just want to make sure they get their Social Security when they retire, and the World War II generation just wants to die in peace. The Millennial Kids, the children of Gen X, are fat and lazy and who knows what their politics will be like in 5-10 years.

If there is any Climate Change, there is definitely a Political Climate Change brewing in the United States. The country cannot continue to endure the chaotic and sporadic, pseudo-ideological all-over-the-map style of policy making. There has not been a concerted effort at a national political agenda since Newt Gingrich in 1994, but it didn't last beyond the '96 election. Prior to that, there hadn't been one since Ronald Reagan in 1980--but it didn't carry through his administration. Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and FDR's New Deal were the only other two of the 20th Century.

Not only is there no agenda driving the nation today, there is not even an agenda driving the political parties that hold power Congress and the White House. Each is purely reacting to the other. There is no such thing as national policy in 2007. Everybody is looking to the Presidential Contenders of 2008 to provide that leadership and that direction--yet none of them are fulfilling such an obligation. And even if they were, it would be insufficient. There needs to be a massive engagement of the populous in the policy-making process, but it is going to require electoral reform and constitutional change. The abilities of modern technology must be embraced to enhance the national debate, and create national policy. Releasing a campaign video on YouTube isn't quite what I'm talking about here. Politics 2.0, Policy 2.0, will only come about through engagement. Politicians aren't there yet. American Politicians are trying to use 21st Century methods with 20th Century mindsets, and it isn't going to work.

The ultimate result of Politics 2.0, when it finally takes hold, will be the most disruptive force seen in U.S. politics since the Great Depression. The institutions of today will be badly damaged and perhaps even destroyed by the hurricane-force winds of creative destruction. What is rebuilt in the aftermath will define American destiny for the next hundred years.