A Three-Party Solution
Sen. John Fetterman official portrait (Public domain)
I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again.
The Congress of the United States is non-functioning. If it were an automobile, you’d take it to the shop. If it couldn’t be fixed, you’d get a new one. As it is, we’re stuck with an entire branch of the government comprised of people that appear to hate each other.
So, there’s no wonder we get name-calling, profanity, and government shutdowns.
Who wants to sit down and negotiate with the other side, if you hate them? There is one guy who says he would do just that. He says he’ll meet with any other member and talk things out. It’s Senator John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat with whom I disagree much of the time.
I wonder if there any other members like him. I wonder if there’s enough to start a new party based on actually finding solutions. A party, perhaps, based on logic.
AUDIO: Random Samplings of a Logical Mind
This is not just another column demanding logical solutions.
Not at all. This a column suggesting that members of Congress bury the hatchet somewhere except in the backs of their fellow members. Yes, I know presidents do it, too. Trump is Trump and his nastiness is a feature rather than a bug. It works for him. It didn’t work so well for Joe Biden when he gave his speech at Independence Hall with all the Nazi-like imagery. He came off looking worse than the person he was trying to demonize.
Video: Biden at Independence Hall attacking Donald Trump and MAGA. Is this the kind of rhetoric that got Charlie Kirk murdered?
As for Trump, I have said many times that his style is not my style. He makes it work; no one else in politics can.
RELATED: We could have a functioning immigration system if we had a functioning Congress
Take the current Minority Leader in the house, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York. It would be nice to see him come up with some great ideas, perhaps some way to pay down the National Debt, or fix the violence that is prevalent in cities like Chicago. Instead, he peppers every speech or news conference with insults and accusations aimed at Republicans. It’s apparent that Jeffries hates them, but what are his ideas to make America a better and more solvent country?
I’ve called Jeffries the pull-string politician, because he’s similar to those action figures where you pull a string and they play a recorded message. Jeffries never changes from his “Republicans-are-bad” message.
Video: Pull his string and Hakeem Jeffries will tell you how awful Republicans are no matter what the issue.
The current Majority Leader, Mike Johnson, isn’t as bad as Jeffries, but part of his job is to attack Democrats. He can be good at it during those times when the two parties are at opposite ends of an issue – which is most of the time.
Am I letting Trump off the hook on this issue?
Nope. Sometimes, I wish he’d act in a way that we used to call “presidential,” but those days are gone. Obama wasn’t all that presidential and Biden could be a jerk’s jerk. Trump is a brash New Yorker and he’s a billionaire, and he’s used to getting his way.
The difference is that Trump uses his brashness to get things done. Biden, on the other hand, went to the beach and slept. Both Trump and Biden are adept at spouting profanity when they want to, but Biden was a total failure as Chief Executive and Trump has had many successes. That’s why he gets somewhat of a pass.
Now, what’s this about a third party?
That takes us back to Senator Fetterman who has said on TV that he will never call anyone “Hitler.” That’s a damn good start. Calling people Hitler may be part of why mentally unstable people keep going around trying to assassinate political figures, and sometimes succeeding. Charlie Kirk is dead by an assassin’s bullet, and Trump almost was. When Fetterman said he would never accuse political opponents of being Hitler, I cheered.
Video: “Cuomo” on News Nation. The Fetterman interview starts at 9:25. You don’t have to agree with Fetterman’s politics to agree with him on how Congress ought to function.
This is not just Rodney King asking if we can all get along. I’m talking about the people we elect to run our country, and who are supposed to be a cut above. Yet, because they seem to hate each other, we can’t have a decent healthcare system, we can’t make our cities safe, and we can’t make college affordable like it used to be. We have a $38,000,000,000,000 National Debt (yes, I capitalize the letters like the Associated Press capitalizes the word “black”).
As Elon Musk would say: let this sink in. I’m not even sure how to read the figure. Six zeroes are a million and nine are a billion, so I think the National Debt could be expressed as “thirty-eight-thousand billion dollars.” Did that sink in? If so, congratulate yourself because it hasn’t sunk in to members of Congress.
A three-party solution.
Forget world peace, or nuclear stockpiles, or climate change, or sanctity of life, or curing cancer, or making America a better place. The two parties are so far apart that all they can do is hate each other. We can’t fix any problem so long as we are run by people like Hakeem Jeffries and, Chuck Schumer, who are the worst of the worst.
Video: Yes, I think this is the most disgusting single comment ever made by a politician and that Schumer ought to have been charged with inciting violence or he should have resigned.
Yes, I think more hatred comes from the political Left, but the Right has their own set of bomb-throwers.
RELATED: Problems We Can’t Solve
I wonder what would happen if a significant number of congressmen and ladies from both houses, regardless of political positions, started a party based upon comity? That means you could be for or against abortion or climate change so long as you agree to sit down and discuss the issues without accusing the other guy of being Hitler.
I think that’s what John Fetterman is saying. It’s what I’m saying when I go on the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk 1370 and say I’m not certain I will support JD Vance for the next Republican presidential nominee. Vance, much like Hakeem Jeffries, is quick to blame the other party for everything that’s wrong in America. As a conservative, I may agree with him on most things, but can we never, ever talk things out and reach an agreement that makes sense?
Yes, I know that following every successful abortion, we have a dead baby.
I get that. It’s hard to compromise on issues concerning life. Maybe we can’t have a meeting of the minds on that issue, or even on climate change.
But could we at least sit down like human beings and listen to the other side? What about the National Debt? Surely both sides that see that we’re headed for an existential fiscal crisis. Surely both sides know that China is a major threat. Surely both sides want to cure cancer. But listen to them. They agree on practically nothing.
My imaginary third party does not have to have members that agree.
It just has to have members that will sit down with each other and talk about the issues like human beings, and look for ways to solve them. Issues such as crime in our cities, the high cost of college, the rise of socialism and Communism in America, water and air pollution, making Americans healthier, the high cost of health insurance, and so many others ought to transcend party affiliation.
RELATED: Governing From the Center Is a Dead Concept
I think that’s what Joe Manchin used to say before he was run out of office. Fetterman has filled the vacuum. He’s really the only one that talks about getting rid of the hate and working to solve problems – maybe even admitting from time to time that the other side has a good idea.
Video: Manchin to CNN on his divorce from the Democratic Party.
Let’s call it the “Logic Party,” or the “Unity Party.”
Not “unity” in how we think, but rather unity in how we behave. What works for Trump seems to have the opposite effect for Congress. Congress is very broken. Pull-string toys like Hakeem Jeffries are not only insufferable, but also useless. America needs big thinkers – like Trump – who can bring forth big ideas, and it needs level-headed legislators – like Fetterman – who will listen to them, even if they are not his own ideas.
Maybe this aspirational third party could lead to a functioning Congress. That would be amazing, because that’s something we currently do not have.
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter. Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us. Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoolley.
Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site.
Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
Should I send a copy of this book to Senator Fetterman? It’s sensible. It’s logical. He might enjoy it!
