It has been correctly observed that if a creature walks, quacks, acts, and looks like a duck, in all likelihood it probably is a duck. So it is with the Democrat and Republican parties who have repeatedly and insidiously conned Black, Brown, Red, Yellow, and White peoples for so very long in the United States. Democrat and Republican party interests and needs are not the same as those of the masses of American people and the peoples of the world. It does not require a rocket scientist to understand that anyone of any color or gender who has been vetted and approved by the party machinery of the Democrat or Republican parties, and supported by corporate advisors and/or the corporate media for the Presidency of the United States, could not possibly have as a priority, the fundamental economic, political, and social interests and human rights of the peoples of this nation, much less the world.

We must remember the parable of the gentle, hard working, and kind old woman who, after being bitten by the poisonous snake that she had taken in from the cold and nursed back to health, was sarcastically told by that serpent: “You knew I was a snake when you took me in.” Such are the Democrat and Republican parties; venomous serpents of the lowest order.

The fact is that neither a donkey nor an elephant can give birth to a lamb or a giraffe, and the Democrat and Republican parties cannot and will not give birth to a humane, honest, politically progressive leader who is not beholden to the U.S. corporate / military apparatus and who is seriously about much needed systemic change. Indeed, such a thing would be a contradiction in terms [i.e. ‘humane, honest, politically progressive’ vs. the ‘Democrat & Republican’ parties]. The present U.S. political system will not, and indeed is incapable of, replacing itself with a system that is dedicatied to ensuring and protecting the welfare and fundamental human rights of the vast majority of the people. Only the masses of people themselves / ourselves can do this. This task is ours and ours alone.

It is time right now to think and act outside the suffocating box of the Democrat and Republican parties. It is time to organize a third party or parties on the local, state, and federal levels. We must begin locally in our communities (urban and rural), towns, cities, states; coordinating these actions nationally. We must build from the bottom or foundation up, understanding that there can be no top unless we ourselves are an integral part of it and are building an active peoples’ foundation. A building exists upon its foundation, not its roof. And a roof is meaningless without a foundation upon which to stand.

Where do we begin? We begin with everyday bread and butter concerns such as decent and affordable housing, single payer universal health care, education that is relevant to we the everyday people, jobs for everyone able to work, and child care, organizing for and demanding environmental consciousness and accountability, absolutely insisting upon a fair and just judicial system, nurturing, respecting, and caring for our old folks / elders, etc. These are some of the bread and butter concerns of us, the everyday people, and this is not only where we begin but also where we must consistently concentrate our efforts. We must build third parties that are about clear and specific substance not rhetorical fluff. This is not some over night affair. This is a long, protracted, and ongoing struggle full of hard work - which has already begun - and if it is not yet in your neighborhood then YOU must plant the seed. We are doing this, and must continue to do this, inch by inch, day by day, person by person, community by community, and year by year until we collectively have amassed a tidal wave of we - the common folk - who will no longer allow the Democrat and Republican party serpents to control us.

People who are concerned about the above described matters have no interest in or support for war mongering, engaging in world hegemony, or promoting insatiable corporate appetites. In fact, said people must and will vehemently oppose such madness; and therein lies precisely why the demagogic Democrat and Republican parties are in de facto opposition to third parties in America. Nevertheless, with perseverance, history is on our side - the side of the everyday people, fed up with being pimped and bamboozled by the trickery of the Democrat and Republican parties.

Nothing short of political, economic, and social systemic change in the United States will suffice to ensure that politically conscious Black, Brown, and Red peoples, and our seriously progressive allies attain real political power and bring about real and fundamental change. This is not about mere superficial color or gender change. It is about systemic change.

Building active grass roots third parties in the United States represents the only viable answer to eliminating the death grip that corporations, combined with the Democrat and Republican parties, have around the throats of the American people, and the peoples of the world. The “Black Left” must regain the political initiative in America, in concert with our allies who understand and are actively engaged in political organizing, party building, and concomitant activities, with the clear cut objective of bringing about systemic change that serves the need of the majority of Black, Brown, Red, Yellow, and White peoples.

As committed political activists going about the business of building and supporting third parties, we must simultaneously look backward historically as well as forward to the future, even as we organize in the present. We must remember that there is most definitely a viable alternative to the suffocating Democrat and Republican parties’ box of mediocrity and illusion. That alternative is strictly within us ourselves. “We the people...”

Betrayal awaits those who succumb to the illusions of the Democrat and Republican parties. We have been betrayed enough. All Power To The People as we struggle on to make and keep it real.   

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Larry Pinkney, is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book) Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.