Thursday, May 24, 2007
  Four Party System
I was listening to a discussion of Rudi Guilani's candidacy today and how he's more liberal positions on certain social issues make him a tough sell to a lot of the evangelicals who control the Republican party.

Coupled with that was the Democrats total wimping out on Iraq, even though they were swept to power in both the House and Senate on a tide of anti-war sentiment. Even though polls show that the American people want our military out of Iraq. Still they wimped before the threat of a Presidential veto. Send him the bill and let him veto it. Then negotiate, don't wimp out before he even gets the bill.

Anyway, those two events got me to thinking how when people talk about how the two party system isn't working well any more, the solution is usually to have a third party. Of course, the third party is usually carved out of the more progressive arm of the Democrats, which is unpalatable if you want to keep Republicans from gaining absolute majorities.

What we really need is four parties. One of the hyperconservatives, one of the moderately conservative, one of the moderately liberal and one of the progressives. That way the Republicans do not stand to sweep the elections due to a divided Democratic party, and there would be comfortable space for candidates like Guiliani.

A four party system might actually be a viable option for fixing the system which has broken down into partisanship bickering, where toeing the party line is more important than representing the opinions of your constituency.
 
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Progressive Muslim, feminist, mom, writer, mystic, lover of the universe and Doug Schmidt, cellist, theologian and imam.


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Cane River
An interesting exploration of the gradual whiting of a family through slavery to modern days.

To see an archive of all the books I've read (well the ones I've read and review since I started the blog) with comments, please click here

Causes Worth Supporting

This is just a short list -- a few of my favorites.

English Language Islamic Fiction. We need more of it. Lots more.
Pay a Teacher's Salary in Afghanistan. The Hunger site actually has a lot of worthwhile programs. You can find them all here .
Muslims for Progressive Values. My organization. We can always use donations, of time or money!
Human Rights Campaign for the glbt community
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
The ACLU I'm a card carrying member. Hope you'll become one too.
MoveOn.org. The organization that has done the most, as far as I can tell, to pull the countries progressive side together.
Network of Spiritual Progressives. Working to reclaim religion and morality for the religious left.

Blogs Worth Reading

Wanda Campbell also known as Nochipa A very gifted poet and a gentle, compassionate soul. Nochipa and I are on the same page on sooooo many things
Writeous Sister Aminah Hernandez, she's got some excellent latino pieces and always has good writing info on her blog.
Sister Scorpion aka Leila Montour - Leila is a fount of energy, quirky humor, and bad attitude. She's also a talented poet.
Muhajabah Very interesting commentary here. I don't always agree with her, but her pieces are always thought-provoking.
Georgie Dowdell Georgie is a great writer and a good friend.
Louise Marley Another great writer. I think Louise is one of the best sf writers exploring faith themes.
Ink in My Coffee Devon Ellington (who has numerous aliases) who is also the editor of Circadian Poems. A truly inspiring woman with a seemingly endless supply of energy.
Ethnically Incorrect With a name like that, isn't a given I'm going to enjoy this writer?
Freedom from the Mundane Colin Galbraith, another excellent writer, from Scotland.
The Scruffy Dog Review This is a new e-zine with an ecclectic mix of fiction, poetry, and non-fic, some really enjoyable pieces here.
Ramblings of a Suburban Soccer Mom Lara, another gentle soul, very thoughtful.
Circadian Poems A journal of poetry, new stuff up all the time.
Ye Olde Inkwell Michelle writes romance and is one of my writing buddies.
Muhammad Michael Knight The original punk Muslim writer. Like him or love him, Mike is always coming up with the unexpected.

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