By Rudy Barnes, Jr., July 5, 2025
America’s Two Party Duopoly is missing two critical components: a viable Democratic Party that can hold Trump’s Republicans accountable, and altruistic moral values that provide for the common good. I’m an independent in my politics, and all I hear from the Democratic Party are requests for money to support Democrats, with no emphasis on moral priorities.
As a senior citizen in South Carolina, I know how ineffective partisan politics can be. From the Civil War until the 1960s, S.C. was a one-party Democratic state. Since then it has evolved into a one-party Republican state, and Democrats have failed to be the loyal opposition to Trump’s Republican Party. America needs a party that can hold Republicans accountable.
Until Democrats demonstrate that they can be the loyal opposition to Trump’s Republicans, they don’t deserve to be a major party. In a healthy democracy with only two parties, one party needs to be the loyal opposition to the party in power; and where there is no effective opposition to the majority, the minority party has failed its primary task.
Partisan polarization coupled with distorted religious overtones began with Jerry Falwell’s moral majority in the 1980s and culminated with Trump’s intimidation of dissident Republicans. It wasn’t long ago that both the Republican and Democratic Parties had independent members who could cross party lines, but Trump discouraged that with threats.
Along the way, the altruistic teachings of Jesus were lost in radical versions of Christian nationalism. Thomas Jefferson once asserted that the teachings of Jesus were “the most sublime moral code ever designed by man,” but his altruistic moral teachings were discredited by increasingly radical versions of Christian nationalism as Trump’s Republican dogma.
If the moral teachings of Jesus in the greatest commandment to love God by loving our neighbors of other races and religions as we love ourselves is God's will and Word, then the Big, Beautiful Bill that Trump has pushed through Congress could be described as a Big Blasphemous Bill, since it violates the altruistic moral teachings of Jesus to provide for the common good.
Most Americans claim to be Christians, but Trump’s Republicans have distorted the moral teachings of Jesus with morally corrupt policies based on Christian nationalism and favoritism for the wealthy. If both parties emphasized the altruistic moral teachings of Jesus to provide for the common good, it could end the tribal partisan divisions that have stymied Congressional checks and balances.
Altruistic morality in politics could diminish the evils of immorality and partisan polarization in politics, and provide the needed opposition to Trump’s GOP. Now that Trump has passed his Big Beautiful Bill, where is Elon Musk? He may be the world’s richest man, but I suspect that his promise to reform Congress in the midterm elections will only confirm that talk is cheap in American politics.
Notes:
On Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill as a Big Blasphemous Bill, see https://sojo.net/articles/opinion/big-blasphemous-bill.
On Who Put Jesus on the Cross and put Trump on the Throne, see https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/09/who-put-jesus-on-cross-and-trump-on.html.
On Elon Musk’s Plan to Oppose Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill with a New Party, see Bryan Metzger, Business Insider, July 2, 2025, and Reuters/Nathan Howard, Jul 2, 2025, at https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-threats-big-beautiful-bill-republicans-2025-7 Elon Musk is threatening the political careers of all Republicans who voted for Trump’s "Big Beautiful Bill, while Republicans are largely brushing it off. "Similar threats have been made before," one House Republican said. Musk, the single largest political donor of the 2024 election, could theoretically pour millions of dollars into funding primary challengers against sitting members of Congress. He's also mused about launching a new political party, and he's said he'll donate to a GOP congressman who's been critical of Trump's agenda. So, how seriously are Republican lawmakers taking Musk's threats? "Not that seriously," Rep. Abe Hamadeh of Arizona told BI. "Elon Musk actually donated to me last quarter." Hamadeh is one of 21 House Republicans who's already received a more than $6,000 check from Musk this year, according to the most recently available campaign finance data. That list includes a host of right-flank Republicans including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. Republicans say they're not worried about Musk's complaints at this point, and there's a sense that Musk, now on the outs with Trump and more focused on his companies, simply won't follow through. "Similar threats have been made before, and I'm unsure if anything's come of those threats," Rep. Brian Jack of Georgia said. Musk has criticized the bill's phase-out of clean energy subsidies as well as its impact on the national debt. He has said it largely undoes the work of DOGE, the government-efficiency and cost-cutting initiative he launched at the beginning of Trump's second term. "Look, I mean, he's the wealthiest man in the world. You have to take everything seriously," Jack added. "But at the same time, I'm just hopeful that if he does engage politically, it's on behalf of the party that's enacted pro-growth policy." It's been a month since Musk and Trump's relationship blew up in an epic feud, and Republicans on Capitol Hill have gotten used to the dynamic, even as they lament it. "It's a shame," Rep. Aaron Bean of Florida, one of the three original chairs of the ill-fated House DOGE Caucus. "We're the ones working to bring financial sanity," Bean said. "Hopefully he'll realize that." Most Republicans remain careful not to insult the tech titan, who remains influential on the right and has shown a willingness to pour millions of dollars into elections. If Elon Musk is threatening their political careers, Republicans say they aren't sweating it. No one's really worried about it.” Reuters/Nathan Howard, Jul 2, 2025.
On Newsweek Reporting Musk’s Plan for a New Party Scoring a Polling Win, see https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-america-party-poll-2094615.
