What?  You say that you've never heard of the “Two” Party Two-Step?  Well you are in luck because I'm going to put my dance instructor's hat on and we are going to spend a little time tripping the light fantastic together.  Yes, that means that I am going to teach you the easy to learn, hard to forget steps to this deceptive political dance.  Alrighty then, just put on your dancing shoes and let's go.

Just stand in the middle of this room and we're ready to go.  This dance has a caller just like a square dance and all you have to do is to listen to him and do exactly what he says.  Here he goes now:  “Ya take two steps to the right and a small step to the left, Two steps to the right and a very small one to the left, - - SLAM!!  Oops, it looks like we just hit the right wall of the room and can go no further.

Holy mackerel, we have gone so far to the right that we are pinned to the wall with nowhere else to go!  Let's take it step by step taking a look at the way we danced in slow motion to see how we got here.  Ya take two steps to the right (Ronald Reagan who actually took us way to the right, George H.W. Bush and a little one to the left (Bill Clinton, even though he's really a Democrat with mini Republican ideals).  Two steps to the right (George Bush took both steps and then some himself) and a little one to the left (Barack Obama squandered his potential with intentional compromise with the GOP).

By now I think that you are getting the picture and hopefully, see a pattern there.  The post LBJ crop of Democratic presidents, especially the last two didn't or never intended to offset the damage to ordinary, non- wealthy Americans that was done by the preceding Republican administrations.  I like to say that Bill Clinton did more to enable and advance the future GOP agenda than most Republican presidents and Barack Obama, a man who has appointed a multitude of CEO's and Wall Streeters as “advisors” always seems to make soaring speeches that promise everything, but lead to watered down legislation that benefits the wealthy far more than it benefits ordinary Americans. 

At this point, you are saying, “How can I change things?  What can I do?”  The answer to that is to use the analogy of buying a car.  If you bought a car from a manufacturer that has, over the years given you lemons that caused you nothing but problems, you'd be looking for a different car manufacturer.  Selecting a president is a far more important a decision than your next car because that selection can affect every aspect of your present and future life.  You owe it to yourself to find or help your fellow Americans form a third party that looks out for ordinary Americans, not corporations, big banks and Wall Street.  America, it's time for a new set of wheels and to learn some new dance steps!

Now that the sequester has been in effect for a couple of weeks, and the mainstream media has been showing scenes of control towers about to close, please remember that it's just part of a dog and pony show designed to justify the cuts to Social Security and Medicare that the elites of both parties want us to think will fix the deficit.  The mass panic that our corporate owned electeds hope will ensue would be caused by the latest false dialog generated by the corporate owned mainstream media lie machine at the behest of, you guessed it, their corporate owners.  Those media moguls and their 1% pals hope that it will result in the opportunity to raid Medicare and Social Security to balance the deficit, give themselves a new source of profit and allow them to continue to pay little or no taxes.  They know that a good panic will allow our corporate owned electeds to take the first steps in undoing Medicare and Social Security much in the way media lies and selective reporting caused healthcare for all to be diluted into Obamacare.

You can read the full article in my Feature Articles section by clicking here.

Believe it or not, years of watching television have conditioned most Americans to think of and classify everything in terms of brands.  This branding process doesn't stop with boxes of laundry detergent or cans of cola, we even classify politicians and political parties by the identifying characteristics programmed into our heads from watching years of campaign advertising.  What comes to mind when you visualize the two political parties and their candidates?  The GOP wants you to think that it and its candidates stand for mom, the flag and apple pie.  The Democrats want you to think that they are the party of working people and the poor.

The stereotypical classifications of Democratic politicians as being the saviors of working people and the poor and Republican politicians as being patriots are deceptive at best, dangerous to democracy at worst.  Those popular perceptions are borne out of years of political ads and carefully controlled public relations campaigns.  The reality and track records of both parties should tell most Americans that nothing is further from the truth.  Both parties are just assuming their traditional identities and playing to their target audiences:  In the case of the Democrats, that would be working people, the retired and the poor.  In the case of the Republicans, that would be the rich and the Archie Bunker variety of working people.

In the mind of their target voters, each of the two parties represents the previously mentioned characteristics; the Republicans represent patriotism, the Democrats fight for working people.  Much in the same way that a certain brand of cola and a certain lemon-lime soda have their own specific taste profiles, voters expect each of the two brands, Republican and Democratic to stand for their implied values.  When the Republicans rant about patriotism, but support “free” market policies that enable outsourcing jobs overseas, a decidedly unpatriotic act, it dilutes the Republican brand in the minds of their target working class voters.  Similarly, when Democrats “compromise” with the Republicans on cuts to Social Security and Medicare and support job killing “free” trade agreements, it dilutes the Democratic brand in the minds of their target working class voters.

The subliminal message that political brand dilution delivers to prospective voters is that neither party delivers on their promises.  That kind of message leads to passionless voters who feel that they are voting for the lesser of two evils and feel that once again, the system ripped them off.  We have reached the point where one more disappointment might be the straw that broke the camel's back and be the tipping point that triggers a majority third party movement!  The only thing that will prevent that from happening is for Democratic politicians to be authentic Democrats and truly support the working people who faithfully supported them.  That would entail curbing job offshoring by restoring trade tariffs on imports to pre-Reagan levels, supporting pro-union legislation, fighting for Social Security and Medicare and remembering that the Democratic party is the party of FDR, not Herbert Hoover!  One more thing, will Democratic electeds please stop making comments that venerate Ronald Reagan?

In case you didn't realize it, our political system is rigged.  Due to the strong advantage our electoral system gives the Democratic/Republican duopoly,  getting a third party Presidential candidate elected is virtually impossible.  Additionally, the massive “support” both parties receive, overtly via direct contributions and covertly via sock puppet organizations from their corporate, Wall Street and banking backers almost guarantees that corporate oligarch contributors will become America's shadow government.  I like to say that one party is owned by wealthy oligarchs and the other party is leased by wealthy oligarchs.

Over the past few years, as it became apparent to me that both parties were not listening to us, I was hoping that a national third party movement would capture the hearts and minds of my fellow working, retired and unemployed Americans who were and are fed up with a corporate run government that ignores the will of the people.  For various reasons that I don't want to discuss (because I would have to do a lot of unproductive finger pointing) that never materialized.  In any event, the only way that a third party candidate for President could win under the current system is by an overwhelming majority.  In other words, in 2012, a third party win has the chance of a fart in a hurricane.

Yes folks, once again we have no choice but to vote for the lesser of two evils.  No, by saying that I'm not selling you out.  Since we know that Democratic compromise with the Republicans is really a thinly veiled tip of their hats to their corporate backers, we must adopt a new strategy.  In 2012, our goal should not only be to keep Mitt Romney out of the White House, but to fight to get as many Democrats elected as possible.  Let's give the Democrats an overwhelmingly clear majority, that can't be vetoed, so they can't use compromising with the Republicans as an excuse for their actions.  At that point, any Democrats who pursue what was formerly the Republican agenda will be officially outed as closet Republicans and subject to our wrath.  Should that happen, a third party would look good to most Americans and will win.

Don't throw away your vote on the lesser of two evils!  We are in the home stretch of yet another election year which happens to be the perfect time to make ourselves heard.   Learn how to make your elected listen to you by Visiting my Listen Here! page!