How do we get out of our current political stagnation in the U.S.?
Well , forgive me, but I think that as an observer who has been a lifelong Libertarian party member, that what you discribe is not at all the case.In me watching political events unfold in the past 40 years or so, to me it seems that the Democrats are far less willing to compromise, or negociate their positions, or reach across the aisle than Republicans.Take for example the enactment of Obamacare, in 2010, Republicans could see that Obama had a majority in house and senate and, and while they did not like Obamacare, they tried to offer compromise positions to reduce what they saw as problematic aspects of the bill (which in fact came to pass), and were firmly rebuffed.The president went so far as to publicly proclaim that “elections have consiquences and I won”, and refused to negotiate at all for practical purposes. This refusal to compromise or be willing to negotiate continued after the Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, and after they won control of the senate too in the 2014 elections.Now after the 2016 elections, Republicans have unified control of the federal government, control of the majority of state legislatures and govorners. Point of fact, the Democratic party has become less and less relivent to American politics.To answer your question, the biggest roadblock I see is in the minds of Democratic party members refusing to accept the fact that the American public has rejected their policies, and them. You need to pull your head out of the bubble you have accused the Republicans of being in, and aquaint yourselves with the American voter.
Between right and left, conservative and liberal, is a THIRD way really possible according to you? Would you vote for such a candidate and what would according to you be a good compromise in term of economy, immigration, healthcares, etc?
Between left and right? What left, and what right? Right now, politics in the US is a team sport. It’s about winning.What passes for “left” in the US is centrist in the rest of the world.We have several polarities right now, that get identified as left or right.The first, and foremost, is the right to an abortion. And that is a battle between religious conviction, on which it appears there can be no compromise, and respect for the inviolability and self-ownership of a woman’s body, which, also, leaves little room for compromise. As long as you have one side calling it murder, and the other side calling it slavery, there is no middle ground. The fundamental litmus test for a presidential candidate is falling on the right side of this divide.Next, not to put too fine a point on it, is white people versus everyone else. Debates about immigration, healthcare, the economy, trade, they ultimately all boil down to this. Brown and black people being fed up with getting shit on, and white people afraid of losing their special status.Finally, the most important one, and the one that remains most hidden, is the 0.1% against everyone else. And the 0.1% do a great job of focusing attention on the first two.Think about this: in the 1950s, that time when America was supposedly great, the top marginal income tax rate was 91%. Why aren’t all those #MAGA trumpistas calling for a return to those tax rates, eh?The kind of candidate I would really get behind, left, right, center, is one that is committed to getting money out of politics, and one that is committed to popping the ideological bubbles that have developed, both in broadcast media and in social media.