This was submitted as an idea to the Politifest 2012 Idea Tournament. VOSD members will vote on the best ideas and on Sept. 19 we’ll announce six contenders (Not a member? Join now to vote). At Politifest on Sept. 29, each of the six finalists will have five minutes to pitch their idea to a panel. The panel rates the ideas and two finalists advance. The crowd at Politifest will vote on a winner. The winner will receive an “idea-inspired” trophy custom-designed by former City Councilwoman Donna Frye. VOSD CEO Scott Lewis will also write about the winner’s idea.
I am (we are?) tired of mudslinging instead of developing solutions to problems at city, state and federal levels of government. Our democracy has degraded into “demagoguery” as our political leaders’ emotional rhetoric, distortions and unfulfilled promises have alienated the electorate. Hopelessness creates avoidance and apathy for an increasing number of voters, and further allows the continual mudslinging and lack of espousing detailed solutions to problems. Republicans and Democrats are so focused on discrediting the “others” that nothing productive results. And words are meaningless scripts from public relations consultants. A middle-ground entity would be the more powerful swing vote to leverage solutions, even if it did not become a majority party. Mathematically within 40 percent and 40 percent and 20 percent, the 20 percent becomes determinative as to which “side” gets more than the 50 percent. Maybe call it the “T&C Party” — truth and consequences. It would not argue about who is at fault, but rather define how to solve the problem. It would not be an extremist group but, hopefully not too naively, middle-of-the-road-wise, practical idealists without regard to race, gender, national origin, disability, age, etc.
Clifford Weiler submitted this idea to the Politifest 2012 Idea Tournament. Join us on Sept. 29!