I have quite a few friends who, over the years, have tried to persuade me to get out of the stock market due to some crisis or another. “Pull all your money out,” they say. “This time it’s not some run of the mill crisis. This one’s real. It’s different this time.”
“It’s different this time.” We are so often tempted to think that whatever the crisis, this one is different. Rarely, very rarely, is it different.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been introduced to political leaders across the state and beyond by a friend who thinks things need to change. He’s heard me say on this commentary and in our numerous conversations that I feel our political world today is in dire shape. I’ve wondered aloud on this commentary and in his and my conversations what my obligation to this situation might be. Do I have an obligation to try to change things for no other reason than I’m worried, sometimes panicked, and more than disgusted by what I see and the way people are treating one another? What should I do, if anything? What do I owe this crisis?
I’ve also heard myself saying what countless others out there are saying: This is wrong, and someone should do something. What’s wrong? The methods and tactics of today’s political leaders are wrong. The political violence is wrong. The absence of action from those elected to serve in Washington is wrong. The unchecked ransacking of government employees by a private citizen is wrong. The cult-like worship by many Republicans of our president is wrong. The blatant profiteering of the Oval Office is wrong. The list goes on. I’ve said it repeatedly: “Someone should do something.”
There are no levers I can pull that truly matter. There are no levers I can pull that will fix this, or even slow it down, but the helpless feeling I’ve had has been eased in the past few weeks as I’ve spoken to political influencers about our political environment today. They’ve all agreed with a cry we’ve heard for years and that’s this: If there ever were a time for a third political party to be born and take action, now is that time. The Democrats, God love them, have strayed way too far left for me. I can’t, without completely betraying my beliefs, adopt their platform. However, Republicans look and sound nothing like the party that had my heart years ago. I can find no semblance of what I used to know and love in that party.
So, I’ve begun talking to people who share my belief that a third party is acutely needed today. I am collecting their interviews to play on my podcast which, heretofore, has been called What’s Working and had a business focus. Now it’s focus will be what it will take to create a viable third party to represent people like me who have no voice in Washington and have a deep desire for change.
Someone should do something, and, in a very small way, I’ve found something I can do because, I truly believe, it is different this time.
I’m Cam Marston, and I’m just trying to Keep it Real.
