Washington DC is awash in political fighting over a proposed wall on the southern border with Mexico. Republicans are fighting the Democrats and some Republicans are fighting other Republicans. But beyond that political theater, there is a wall both parties do like – the wall that they’ve built around the electoral process.
It is not a physical wall but it’s real nonetheless. It’s built out of dirty deals, political trades, partisan judges, legal threats and maneuvers, and the fact that they write and pass the laws that give them free access to taxpayer money to fund their political parties’ candidate selection process (called the Primary) while putting every obstacle they can create in the paths of independents and third parties that seek to challenge the status quo.
Do you like the way things are done in Harrisburg or Washington? No? Well, thank the Republican and the Democratic parties that pretend to be enemies but cooperate at deep levels to keep real alternatives from rising to the attention of voting public. This wall leaves many Americans without a voice. Here in Pennsylvania, 13 percent of the voting age population doesn’t even bother to register to vote. Of the 87 percent that do register, 30 percent don’t vote. Here in Chester County, almost 18 percent of those who are registered to vote are not Republicans or Democrats. This means that just less than a third of the voting age population has opted out of the two major parties. Their voices aren’t heard. Maybe they would find better alternatives without this wall that just protects the powers that be.
We can only borrow from Ronald Reagan to the political power elites: “Tear down this wall.”