The Death of the Two Party System

© 2022 by Eric Weidler. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

ISBN: 978-1-957009-54-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-957009-68-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-957009-53-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022911035

To the individual, the Family is more important than the Clan. The Clan is more important than the Governing Body. The Governing Body is more important than the Country. All play their part. This is dedicated to the blessed true families of the past and of the families yet to be.

JOHANN and HANS HEINTZ Family Line 1500-2500 AD

Author’s Note

The Age of Aquarius. Is it over or just beginning? This author thinks it’s just beginning. Hope springs eternal.

That which works in society will be implemented—eventually. Perhaps not initially, but, as always, it’s a matter of time. In viewing back a few decades, I have reflected on the writings of Charles Berlitz in Doomsday: 1999 and the end of the Mayan calendar age, 2012. Well, both times have come and gone and life on Earth goes on without exceptional catastrophes: no Pole shifts or Global flooding. For those in New York City, 2001 would have been Doomsday. The December of 2004 would have been the same for many living next to the coastal areas of the Indian Ocean. Perhaps a new age is still upon us. If so, its characteristics may be seen over several generations. Climate change just may come in with quite subtle action. At any rate, the grand mass of humanity continues on in much the same way as it has before.

From the title one may think the purpose of writing is to make a political statement. I think the thrust of my writing shows a brighter future as well as one primed with political debate and governing principles. Paradigm shifts usually come ever so slowly. Knee jerk changes often revert to their previous normal settings, even if under a new name. In my writing, the search for and frustrations with the ideal method for governing a free society are demonstrated in generational challenges of given time periods in America and European origins.

In writing both historical and futuristic fiction, I highlight a journey of one family line at century marks as they deal with the political environment and challenges of everyday life. One’s life is short; and, at its very longest, still short. We are but one link in a chain among many chains.

I sequenced the episodes by alternating them: past, future, past, future, and so on. This method of storytelling: flashback, then flash forward is nothing new. In the film industry, the time fantasy showing in the movie, Outlander, a movie obviously not made for the Hallmark channel, is one example. Another is the creative editing of Joe Wright’s Atonement. It demonstrates sudden forwards, recalled romance elements, and even reversed (shown as a rewound) previous action takes, as in the fountain scene. This method makes the audience think and tells the story in a curious, captivating way.

To add a more thought provoking element, I spaced the episodes at one century apart, starting with five hundred years in the past (16th century) and followed by the one that’s five hundred years in the future (26th century). The sequence continues with four hundred years in the past, the 17th century snapshot; and then, the four hundred years in the future (25th century) period, the three hundred years in the past period, followed by the three hundred years in the future one, and so on up to the present. The readers may read the episodes in any sequence they like. My father, a WWII veteran, often said, Things were different…back then. His was one generational difference. Imagine what difference a hundred years would provide: Great-grandparents’ time. They were parents that I never knew.

People are people wherever you go and generational differences also have their likenesses. Individuals have their own take on things, but everyone appreciates security when they live in a precarious environment. They can live in such a condition even though there is no real war engagement between countries.

My choice of a hundred year mark around the third decade in each century avoids the two World Wars. In fact, it also avoids the Crimean War in the middle of the 19th century, America’s French and Indian War, the Revolutionary, and the Civil, Korean, and Vietnam War as well. However, the Little Hungary War in the 16th century, the Thirty Years War in Europe and a local brief war in Pennsylvania (Cresap’s War or the Conojocular War as it was sometimes called) are dealt with in the characters in the book.

You might note that the War on Global Warming is barely mentioned. Perhaps future generations will have already taken it for granted. In general, the quality of life has increased over generations, but as always, life’s misadventures are simply unpredictable. Who suffers Nature’s wrath; when and where, are often beyond an individual’s power of control.

Cancel Culture will leave somewhat of a mark. Some of Culture may be cancelled. However, something must fill the void. That, in all probably, will be individualism. This is demonstrated in the first names of our future humankind. As one can see from the family line, the 24th century is the time that this all began to start. Note the changes in spelling of the family’s last name as well. Instead of the conventional names, creative ones, as decided by the parents, might be evident in future times.

Again, in summary, the reader will note that the conventional sequencing of linear storytelling: past, present, future, is abandoned here. They might also note that the author doesn’t define everything. Some things are left to the reader’s imagination.

Introduction

For as much as things change, many things remain the same. There is nothing new under the sun as they say. In general, as life becomes better with improved living conditions, each succeeding generation loses an appreciation of what our forefathers and mothers went through. Sometimes, that also depends on who you were and where and when you resided. There is a vast difference between London in 1940 and small town America in the 1950’s; a vast difference between life in New York City in 1922 and the country of Ukraine a hundred years later.

As the title may suggest, a resonating theme throughout will be the two-sided approach: yin and yang, conservative and liberal, conventional and new age, freedom and servitude, security and risk, and loss versus gain. One party’s loss equals another’s gain. The losing party becomes the other side of the fence. The Socialist doesn’t often wish to realize that Government is funded by the Private Sector and the Conservative doesn’t often wish to change even when change becomes inevitable. Initially, then, that other side of the fence was gladly left as the other side. So, is it really true? The grass is always greener-- there? Like two sides of a coin, one little flip may give us heads up. Presently in politics, it takes a lot more than a flip of the coin. Desperation among many does the trick more than anything else. I briefly show this in the storyline where the two-party system becomes one and representatives are supposedly independent.

Given the present time that has two political parties in power, one can imagine that they will be around for many generations. One will be recycled from power to be replaced by the other with shifting popular opinion. The party in power may last for two terms but usually no longer. The time of Depression and World War in the 30’s and 40’s were an exception.

Suppose we could replace the partisanship we currently have with just one practical party. Someone once said there are only two true parties in the US: Wall Street and Main Street. We are only deceiving ourselves to think and debate endlessly in the current parties. A well noted concept.

The government only need be the watchdog, regulator, and the maker of new laws when the times demand it. During one’s working years, Main Street and its well-being (i.e., full employment) is the party of interest. In the retirement years, one’s interest is in the Wall Street party. Yes, Wall Street: the one with motivation, inflation, deflation, stagnation, value enhancing, and value decreasing factors. Anyone with investments besides Social Security is interested. As for those with just Social Security, keep in mind that as the economy goes, so goes the government.

If one’s job involves the movement of investments, Wall Street is always the party of interest (both kinds). However, Wall Street moves along as long as Main Street keeps moving as well. Good economies at home are dependent on good economies abroad, too. One’s ability to both buy and sell are primary factors. It becomes a balancing act.

Do not politics require a balancing act, too? Could we not replace partisanship with bipartisanship? Does duel thinking really necessitate dueling parties?

I often wondered why politicians continue on as they do. Don’t they realize that the general public is wise to their spin? Do they think us that naïve to buy into their rhetoric? That they have the object of gaining and maintaining power often seems to be their interest: an interest that is, perhaps, well above that of their constituents’ needs. The needs of the country should rise above any other motives. Politicking to maintain power is not the best way to govern. Thus, the theme of my book which some day may become a reality: one party that prioritizes the needs of the country in a timely, efficient manner that is open-minded to solutions. The Representatives of such a party could present both a liberal or conservative view dependent on their constituents needs and finally change the ever-powerful status quo by leaving party power struggles behind.

*     *     *

Will I ever be able to serve myself? I serve a landlord by paying rent. I serve the Royalty by being a page and a knight. I serve the Church by buying indulgences. Will I ever be free to serve myself?

1530 AD Bavaria (Southern Germany)

Willkommen zuruck! Willkommen zuhause! shouted Magdalena.

Her son just returned from soldiering in Hungary. Austria was expanding its empire toward Budapest. Wilhelm had fulfilled his one year’s service and decided he had had enough. War had shown him too much destruction to continue with such a lifestyle. He left at a time of Protestant revolt in Southern Europe and a time when the Ottoman-Hapsburg Wars were just starting. The Little Hungary War was Wilhelm’s youthful event and now just a recent memory. He was glad to be home and only recalled that he had seen too much.

Johann and Magdalena, Wilhelm’s parents, lived on the outskirts of Augsburg, but were thinking of moving further south. Then, perhaps they could be closer to the Swiss Reformers who challenged the Roman Catholic Church. Johann’s grandfather had warned them to not challenge the authority of the Church. Johann’s