The two party system we have is the fundamental problem.
While I agree that it is a serious flaw in current politics, I think it goes beyond that. It would seem to me that the "two party system worked for quite a while. Sure, there were bumps in the road, some pot holes too (ok some were mountains, while others were sinkholes, LOL), but we navigated it ok as a country. Where we seem to have gone off the rails here is with "Postmodernism".
From Wiki: "While encompassing a wide variety of approaches, postmodernism is generally defined by an attitude of
skepticism,
irony, or rejection toward the
meta-narratives and
ideologies of modernism, often calling into question various assumptions of
Enlightenment rationality.
[5] Consequently, common targets of postmodern critique include
universalist notions of
objective reality,
morality,
truth,
human nature,
reason,
language, and
social progress.
[5] Postmodern thinkers frequently call attention to the
contingent or
socially-conditioned nature of
knowledge claims and
value systems, situating them as products of particular political, historical, or cultural
discourses and
hierarchies.
[5] Accordingly, postmodern thought is broadly characterized by tendencies to
self-referentiality,
epistemological and
moral relativism,
pluralism,
subjectivism, and irreverence."
A general summary that I believe is pretty accurate. Notice the part about calling into question objective reality? That is the at the core. There is no reality other than that which I experience. Your reality is irrelevant to me because it is not mine. Hence 2+2 can, indeed, equal something other than 4, if I can explain it. Further, my explanation need not be rational, as objective rationality is also called into question.
See the problem here? I'll spell it out for those who do not.
Nothing is real, nothing I say needs to make sense to anyone but me, morality is relative, human nature is a social construct, and I don't need to have a rationale for my position on a given topic. How can we base a society on THAT? Simple, we can't. That is the point. Chaos, anarchy, mob rule, and a complete departure from all aspects of "western" social norms.
As a country, we can, as history has shown, survive (and even thrive) under a "two party system" of governance. We cannot, by definition (and design) survive, let alone thrive, under Postmodernism, as it relates to politics, and philosophy.
That, in a nutshell, is where we are at right now. A fork in the road, if you will. We must, as a society, choose between the status quo (or something similar to it), and Postmodernism. Will we survive as a country, or devolve into chaos?
The only question each of us have to answer for ourselves is:
Will you go over the cliff with the rest of humanity, or will you be one of those trying to convince others to stop before it's too late?
