OPINION: Does America really have two political parties?

The Republican and Democratic parties say their political philosophies are different. But are they? This was true for the most part up to the 1930s.

Republicans said they were conservatives: smaller government, less taxes, recognized the Constitution as a written document designed to limit government power, and provide financial incentives (tax breaks) to entrepreneurs to create more jobs.

Democrats called themselves liberals who protected the middle class (industrial workers/miners in Appalachia), gave minorities and women a seat at their table, expanded the welfare system, and other skilled reforms regulated by the federal and state systems backed by liberal judges in the judicial system.

Circa 1932, President Roosevelt, addressing a Democratic meeting (and I am paraphrasing), said that this Democratic administration will continue to give the people what they want and Democrats will control the country for the next 60 years. History proved President Roosevelt correct. By then both parties had become political machines and created an aristocracy (the highest social class) for their elites. To protect their members’ incumbency, they agreed to prevent term limits and put up roadblocks to prevent a third party.

Both parties have continued to consolidate power, imposed rules and regulations that bypass and are not enumerated in the Constitution. That violates the Constitution’s 10th Amendment , “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, or prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” In other words, no branch of government, whether executive, legislative, or judicial, can make rules or regulations by fiat (official order or authorization) unless it is enumerated (mentioned) in the Constitution.

The people themselves are contributing to empower these parties. Only 45 percent of the eligible voters voted, and because of this the parties continue to consolidate power with little to fear from the electorate.

Both parties buy votes, and at times duplicate an existing program by giving it another name and creating a new department. Providing government services sounds good and is embraced by the public. However, there are several downsides to misplaced compassion in human and financial costs.

The 2016 presidential election is a stark illustration of symbiosis, two different organisms (political parties) that live and are dependent on each other to the advantage of each.

When Mr. Trump entered the presidential election, the Republican and Democratic party establishments ignored him. When he started winning against the Republican establishment, candidates ganged up on him to quit. When they could not stop him, in stepped the Democratic Party and mainstream press to help oust him. Their last straw was trying to get his delegates to change their votes in the first round of balloting.

When Sen. Bernie Sanders was getting the votes, President Obama, representing the Democratic Party establishment, talked to Mr. Sanders. Obama’s purpose was to get Sanders out and give Mrs. Hillary Clinton the nomination. After that talk (taken to the wood shed), Sanders joined the Democratic establishment in supporting Mrs. Clinton. Emails later showed Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the head of the Democratic National Committee, conspired and succeeded in derailing Mr. Sanders’ delegates at the convention, although publicly promising to remain neutral.

My purpose is to illustrate how both party establishment elites do work together to remove any threat to their legislative positions and power. This election has shown the incestuous relationship between the parties and mainstream press to keep the status quo. The following quote from Mr. Benjamin Franklin as he was leaving Constitution Hall in Philadelphia in 1787 after the ratification of the Constitution is extremely appropriate. A woman stopped him and asked what kind of government we have, and he replied “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

In other words, the Founding Fathers knew the good, bad and ugly politicians come and go. But only the American people can protect their liberty by their constant vigilance, patriotism and vote. The American people must realize they are the government and their politicians are their instruments and beholden to them.

Americans once believed in the American dream of a united nation and a citizenry of productive, self-reliant people with a can-do attitude. That is a dream that too many Americans have now forgotten.

John H. Rallis is a resident of Columbia Falls.