The chances of a viable third political party

A lot of people are disgusted and fed up with Washington. Many of us didn’t believe a word of Barak Obama’s promises that things would no longer be “business as usual in Washington” if he became president. And when he did, many of us didn’t believe a word of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s pledge that the Obama Administration and her Democrat-controlled Congress would be “the most transparent administration in history.”

A lot of people were fed up with the Washingtonian way of doing things (or not) a long time ago. One of the best descriptions I ever heard of the headquarters of the federal government’s bureaucracy machine was that Washington is a “work free drug zone.” Meaning, that damned little real work is going to get done in Washington and the social decay that is rampant in the District just keeps on keeping on.

Thus, many of those jaded beforehand and the naïve who actually believed Obama, Reid and Pelosi would really be the breath of fresh air and integrity so long overdue in the Puzzle Palace but who now are completely pissed off that their Fairy Godmothers turned out to be even more corrupt than their predecessors ever dreamed of being are calling for a 3^rd party to rise up and right government back from its corrupt and impotent ways. Disgusted Republicans and now jilted Democrats are calling for something new, workable and viable and truly representative of their views to come along and upset the complacent, and some would say ineffective, 2-party system.

All I can say is…good luck with that. I ain’t holdin’ my breath.

It’s not that I’m loyal to my dying breath to either party. Rather, I’m realist to know that people in cushy jobs get comfortable. They get used to the power, prestige and, bluntly speaking, the gravy that comes with certain positions and standings in society. And let’s face it; both sides of the aisle have become plenty comfortable with their positions. And they ain’t about to give them up willingly.

So, what are the chances of a viable 3^rd party coming along and upsetting their applecarts? Slim to none would be my bet. I think that should the Tea Party, the Libertarians or something completely out of the blue like the Barking Spider Fifth Column Idealist party really truly rise up and infringe on the cushy little country club we know as Congress, the Republican and Democrat parties, both current parties will link up arm-in-arm and march in lockstep to stomp the life out of the new contender.

Perhaps I will be proven wrong. But, I’m not holding my breath.