Toward a Popular Opposition to the Democratic-Republican Two-Party State and Duopoly System of Government

At Polizeros, Bob Morris has been a consistent voice in support of a popular left-right coalition against the Democratic-Republican ruling establishment, and a critic of the left's general dismissal of the tea party movement. Today, he relays comments from a tea party activist brainstorming a potential left-right alliance against the political status-quo:

Let’s brainstorm: what would a left-right alliance look like? The Goals: Democracy as George Washington wanted it: End the party system. End the “culture war”. End bailouts, have bailouts payed back. Do some Teddy Roosevelt style trust-busting – if a corporation is too big to fail, it’s a monopoly. . . . Improve civil liberties, government transparency, get rid of voting machines, increase turnout with vote-by mail, holiday on election day etc. Cut taxes for the middle class. Pay for it by taxing the financial industry. What else can left and right agree on? The tactics: Vote out incumbents. Vote in primaries for politicians who follow our rules: no mention of irrelevant scandals, no talking about culture war issues, no changes to legislation on culture war issues. No donations from corporations, not being caught alive with lobbyists. Boycott partisan media. Boycott a short, easily remembered list of corporations. Mostly media and donors to the status quo. Call-in-sick days in corporations that donate to politicians. Protests/pickets at high-price fundraisers, banks, lobbying firms Form local juries to debate local issues and pass (non-binding, at the moment) legislation. Form/join local markets, militias, and local currency systems. Skill sharing: Right teaches military skills, left teaches misc. (civil disobedience, scientific method etc.)

Morris writes:

Works for me. Coalitions mean you you don’t have to agree on everything, just on some things. Imagine what could be accomplished by a mass coalition of left and right working together. Why, that would be the worst fear of both DC and the banksters.

Reflecting on a number of posts and the ensuing discussions here at Poli-Tea, Liberal Arts Dude did some brainstorming on this very topic last October, writing:

There are a lot of things where Left and progressive activists and sympathizers share common ground with Tea Party activists. For example, if you implement a large-scale survey on “big picture”questions to both populations, I bet you will find a lot of overlap between the Left and Right. Examples of such questions might be:

• Do ordinary people have a strong voice and power in American democracy? Should they?
• Do the two major parties actually represent the interests of ordinary people? Should they?
• Is the country is being led effectively by our elected leaders from either of the major parties?
• Should a wider spectrum of perspectives, viewpoints and solutions be represented in public discourse and institutions than just Republican or Democrat?
• Do the mainstream political parties care more for their own internal interests rather than the interests of the country as a whole?
• Will you be willing to join a third political party or vote for a third party or independent candidate in an election?
• Will you be willing to participate in political activities and actions that are designed to address the issues above?

My belief on that overlap is where my hopes for a Left-Right alliance comes from . . . I am still a believer on the prospects of such an alliance happening in the future. After all, political efforts that function outside the purview of the Democrat and Republican parties are effectively marginalized in American politics. It’s not a big stretch to then ask the question: why can’t marginalized groups from both Left and Right combine forces and work towards opening up the American political system?