Party turns on Paterson

   It turns out that Governor David Paterson won’t be running for election after all. Big surprise there, considering he had virtually the ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC PARTY against him.

   You have to love political circles in recent times, which are more or less representative of popularity circles in high school. Instead of public office being based on the tenants of righteous public service, now it’s all about who brings what to his or her political party’s table.

   You aren’t popular anymore? Don’t expect any reconciliation or support from your own party, not unless the leaders of that party think you can exercise a popularity revival prior to the greatest popularity contest in America: elections.

   There was a reason why George Washington strongly advised against the formation of political parties in his Farewell Address: They’re all-around bad for democracy. And like the loyal politicians that George Washington’s friends were, all of them went behind his back and formed political parties immediately upon his departure from office in spite of his adamant warning.

   I suppose that was to be expected, because there has only ever been one George Washington, but countless, morally and ethically deplorable Brutus’ in American politics since then.

   The creation of political parties in America has generated groups of elitists who identify with each other more than their constituents. Nearly all of them are highly-educated, convincing, charismatic characters who find greater solidarity with the party than they do with the general public. They are serving the party before the people, which wasn’t how it was supposed to be according to the framework of the U.S. Constitution.

   As full-fledged members, they snicker and bicker with members of the opposition party like zealots at an atheist convention. I don’t think this point could’ve been illustrated any clearer than during the televised, bipartisan health care summit at the White House last Thursday.

   Dialect regarding the fate of our nation’s health care system went nowhere fast and stayed that way for nearly seven hours. What this most-recent televised political circus showcased wasn’t who is right or wrong on the issue, but rather how our elected officials have become people that are incapable of reconciling with those who don’t sport the same colors. They are so deeply rooted in their party’s partisan ideology that they have become creatures unwilling to waiver or give-up the belief that they are always right.

   After marveling at the absolute asinine behavior of our political parties over these past several years, I can’t help but think that their conduct resembles a gentleman’s gang war. Both parties have their colors -- red and blue -- that they use to signify their territory through the various political districts across the nation.

   Sometimes there is contested turf, and that’s where the rivalries really get fierce come election time. Even when parties aren’t fighting for an election seat, they are in a perpetual state of war with one another, using whatever resources at their disposal to tarnish the other gang’s reputation.

   Instead of solving their differences with violence in the streets, they wage war by using subversive diplomacy and pulling strings behind closed doors.    Instead of talking trash on the House floor and being straight shooters, they do their real negotiations in secret while proliferating lies and made-up truths using corporate buddies and media connections.
 

  One party tells the camera “Our polls show that Americans think this,” while the other party refutes this by claiming, “You’re wrong, our polls show that Americans think the opposite of that.” I think it would be safe to say that polls in recent times have about as much legitimacy as democratic elections in the Middle East, but that’s a whole other story entirely. 

   In contradiction to the gang motto of “Once you’re in, you’re in for life,” you are never guaranteed a permanent spot or even the support of your own political party for that matter. If there is one thing exacerbated the downfall of Paterson’s re-election bid it was this: he was grossly sabotaged by elements from within his own party.

   It started several months ago, when the media caught word that an undisclosed member of the Obama Administration told Paterson he should not seek re-election, according to the New York Times. From there on out, Paterson has been criticized by other members of his own party, such as Rep. Steve Israel from Long Island.

   Maybe the party turning against its own is nothing new, but it sure seems strange to me that the Democrats were so adamant about ousting Governor Paterson for no particular offense aside from low approval ratings, considering that all politicians have particularly low approval ratings right now.

   The New York Post led the media-embellishment charge by launching false allegation after false allegation against the governor as his announcement for an election bid drew near. I think what really did it was the New York Times article that alleges Paterson’s office used the State Police to meddle with a woman that was trying to press charges against one of Paterson’s aides. Although controversial usage of New York State Police resources by New York State Governors goes further back than the Troopergate scandal, I feel that the media is drawing fabricated lines by labeling Paterson an “embattled” governor prematurely. 

   I wasn’t surprised Paterson decided to drop out of an election bid after making his announcement to run not even a week prior. What has astonished me has been the explicit viciousness of political party conduct in recent times, and their overt willingness to sacrifice their own even when the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.

   It’s one thing if you make sexual advances on an undercover police officer in a Minnesota airport bathroom, like former Senator Larry Craig did when his party abandoned him and forced his resignation in 2007. Assaulting your girlfriend and then dragging her through your apartment while being caught on a surveillance camera, like New York State Senator Hiram Monserrate did, is another valid reason for a political party to turn against one of its own.

   However, I fail to see how Paterson’s alleged misconduct comes anywhere near the aforementioned, and don’t understand exactly what warranted the Democratic Party’s overwhelming, deliberate efforts to tarnish one of their own.

   When I think of political parties in America today, I can’t help but imagine that they are the embodiment of the Hydra from Greek mythology: A hideously revolting monster sporting multiple heads of treachery, all of which are willing to cannibalize the weakest and most dissenting one so a new head can sprout forth and assume its rightful place by being a member that’s more aligned with the monster’s overall ideology. I suppose if you aren’t with the program, you aren’t a team player, and if you’re not a team player then you can’t play the political game of public service in America these days.