Swing Voter.

As I write this turncoat Senator Arlen Specter is announcing his switch from the GOP to the Democrat party.

Good riddance.

The mainstream media, of course, is all over this, loudly braying that “how can the Republicans hope to be a party with national influence if even a “moderate” like Specter feels he must leave the “big tent” and jump to the donkey side of things.

Rubbish.

Here’s the logical fallacies you’ll hear from the MSMs – first of all Specter is not, nor has he ever been a moderate. Arlen Specter is, was, and as far as I can see always will be a liberal. The only difference is we can now put an “D” beside his name instead of an “R.” Look up “RINO” in any unabridged dictionary, and you’ll his photo as an example of the breed. Now the mainstream morons would have us all believe that the essential lesson here, the takeaway, if you will, is that the Republicans are narrow-minded ideologues, who have no room in their party for independent thinkers.

Horse Hockey.

Here’s the truth: what’s killed the Republican Party is their misguided attempts to be all things to all voters. Republicans lost in the last two elections because they tried to reposition themselves as “Democrat Lite” and shunned their roots as conservatives, as pro-small government, anti-tax representatives of the people. Specter never was on board with that. He was a Republican out of a sense of expediency – the same factor that has driven him from the Republican caucus. Let’s be frank here – When you’ve been in the same job for 28 years (elected 6 times) and the best you can do is to run as a distant second to a challenger, this far out from the election, it’s time to Do Something Drastic. Specter realized that he’d bucked the conservatives one too many times, and the party was out for his scalp. So he’s showed them – and the rest of us, just what kind of guy he is. He’ll run as a Democrat, for he believes that holding on to his job is more important the representing Republican values.

Let’s be honest here. While Specter is no Republican and the party is better off without him, this begs the bigger question – why do we need political parties?

I maintain that what is wrong with our government can be laid at the feet of the two-party system. By creating an “us versus them” mentality, we have a structure that encourages voters to vote for the party instead of the candidate, and allows candidates to hide behind the party instead of voting their conscience. On a national level, the two-party system also robs us of the opportunity to vote for candidates with whom we agree philosophically, and instead forces us to undergo a corrupt and needlessly complicated primary system that results in the “least objectionable” instead of the “best” candidates.

In the last election, we had a choice between two major candidates – let’s call them “Progressivism” (Obama) and “Progressivism Lite” (McCain). Palin was the only reason I was able to hold my nose and vote for McCain, because he’s almost as big a Progressive as Obama. What I wanted was a choice between Progressive/Liberal and Conservative. What we got was a choice between Rabidly Progressive and Not Quite as Rabidly Progressive.

Unfortunately, the two-party system has an even bigger influence over our day-to-day lives as it does every four years in the Presidential race, that being the parties influence over Congress. By defecting to the Democrats, Specter has made it almost certain (depending on the outcome of the Michigan dispute) that the Dems will enjoy a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Essentially that will neuter the Republicans and remove any semblance of effective conscientious objections to the juggernaut of Socialism promoted by Obama, Pelosi, Reid, et all. Thanks a bunch, Arlen.

The good news is that it is likely that Specter will lose in the general election. It’s no way any sure thing that Pennsylvania Democrats will embrace the GOP’s sloppy seconds. And even if they do, it’s likely that Pat Toomey will beat Specter and send him packing, once and for all. But what we all really need to think about is breaking up this inside-the-Beltway, two-party system, that regularly thwarts the will of the people on BOTH sides of the political spectrum. What we need are fresh candidates that will run on ideologies and not on party platforms. Elect enough of them, and we can ban the influence of political parties by getting rid of committee selections by party, and seniority based on party allegiances.

If you’re anything like me, you’re fed up with Congress, party politics, and career politicians that put their own ambition and careers over the will of We the People, lets throw the rascals out, and elect citizens that are more interested in SERVING the people than RUNNING the government.