Letter to the Editor.....Let's Have a Party!

   Dear Editor:

      Why don't all of you come to my party.  It will be efficient, fair and one that everyone can join.

    This party will be different than the parties you are used to.  Our party goers don't harbor special interests; base most of their beliefs on their political party ideology, religious beliefs, feel entitled or join because there is some financial gain to be had.

   Like birthday parties, Christmas parties, and other get-togethers, we celebrate what we all have in common, not what we don't.

    Collectively, we have fun, put aside our very personal differences and work to help each other. We do that because inclusion is better than exclusion. Helping is better than causing suffering.

   My party is not really a party at all. It's kind of a nonparty. No Party Preference, NPP, is a new political designation for those who register to vote in California, but feel aligning with one of the two prominent political parties or one of the lesser parties is not the right political ideology for them.

   By the way, NPP does not mean "No Participation Preferred".

   Year after year I see participation of this now exploding nonparty still not exerting its full potential at the ballot box.

   Especially at primary elections where they can now make the greatest impact as a result of California's open top-two elections.

   Our party has to have a theme. Most parties do. I thought about what kind of theme a majority of people attending would enjoy.

   So I took a look at what the "other" parties offer.

   Surprisingly, most of them had really good political ideologies.  Unfortunately, none had the right compliment that the majority of my party goers could align with.

   One wanted a smaller more efficient public sector and the other wanted a larger one.  More for less, isn't that what we strive for?

   Other parties believe that personal choice, that is what we do ourselves and how we behave, is the freedom we all crave.  Other parties wanted limits on some personal choices.

   I examined both the Republican and Democratic political ideologies I found many similarities. Very food ones, too.  So instead of re-inventing the wheel, I decided to borrow the best ideologies of each for my party. (Many more could have been included)  Here are some of them:

    1. Cut taxes for the middle class
    2. Cut waste and reduce the deficit
    3. Help small businesses
    4. Maintain the strongest military in the world
    5. Preserve and protect the right to bear arms
    6. Protect the environment
    7. Keep a commitment to conservation of our natural resources
    8. Provide quality health care at the lowest cost
    9. Reduce the rising cost of college and provide the best education for our children
   10. Protect human rights here and abroad

    These are some of the best political party ideologies that I want in my platform.  By the way, you may thing the first 5 are taken straight from the Republican platform published in 2012.

   Nope. The first 5 are Democratic (2012) platform, 6 through 10 were taken from the Republican Party platform.

   So you can see they both desire to achieve similar goals.  What is missing? Their desire to compromise and actually accomplish it.

   Not my party.  We will figure it out, compromise when necessary and accomplish what our citizens expect us to do.

   If you like this party, invite others to attend. I will be there.

   Mark Belden of Mokelumne Hill