If You Support the Democrats or Republicans, You Are the Problem

FireDogLake is known as one of the more independent Democrat-leaning progressive community blogs on the web, but nonetheless it remains in many respects hopelessly hung up on maintaining the two-party state and duopoly system of government.  Contributor Jim Moss vents his frustration with the Democratic party and the false appearance of political independence within the progressive movement.  Excerpt:

On the surface, FDL appears to be a fiercely independent progressive outlet – ready to challenge Republicans and Democrats alike – to challenge the status quo system as a whole. Obama is regularly criticized on these pages for his plethora of betrayals. One finds here some of the most intelligent and passionate articulations of progressivism that run the gamut of social and political issues . . . What concerns me has to do with the continued support, implicitly and explicitly, for the two-party system that is slowly grinding our economy and our culture into oblivion. . . .

How many times, on these pages, have the failings of the Democrats been recounted – only to be shouted down by cries of “the Republicans are worse”?  How many times have we progressives had to swallow the bitter pills of compromise, delay, and defeat – even when the Democrats held the White House and historic majorities in Congress in their hands? . . .

What I realized, over time, is that FDL – despite all the good it does – is a part of the very system that it so often speaks against. In implicit and explicit ways, it condones the Democratic Party structure that has proven to be so ineffective to progressive aims. FDL, on the whole, is not willing to tear down the system, because in many ways, it and many of the people who write for it benefit from the system. When the chips are down, most of the people here will run back to the Democrats and will not support a true reform movement. FDL, on the whole, is not interested in discarding the old two-party system and building something new and better.

Ironically, however, the remainder of the post explains Moss's return to the site after a long hiatus sparked by disillusionment with Democrats and the two-party mindset of establishmentarian liberals.  Just as a dog returns to its vomit, Americans across the political spectrum keep returning to the Democratic and Republican parties.  How many more "last straws" could there possibly be?  Folks like Moss should seriously consider joining the third party and independent movement to build a viable opposition to the two-party dictatorship rather than continue to be a part of the problem.