The Last Days of Party Politics: NYC Mayor's Independence is a Move Toward American Democracy

America is not a democracy (not by a long shot), but NYC's mayor leaving party politics may signal America's increasing disgust with party politics.

Billionaire former CEO, current NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg was a lifetime Democrat, until he became a Republican to run for mayor of New York City in 2001.

Tuesday, he announced he is leaving party politics behind, amid growing speculation that he is running for President of the United States in 2008. He denies this.

"Although my plans for the future haven't changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our city," Bloomberg said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

"The politics of partisanship and the resulting inaction and excuses have paralyzed decision-making, primarily at the federal level, and the big issues of the day are not being addressed, leaving our future in jeopardy," Bloomberg said, at a conference Monday about non-partisan city leadership.

With a Republican never-ending war in Iraq, which not even a Democrat-controlled Congress can impact, current party politics have proven to the United States that our "representation" is completely ineffective.

And our once-friends around the world agree. As a matter of fact, most people in the free world regard America's two-party system ridiculous, because except for divisive, hot-button social issues (think: abortion), the Democrats and Republicans are almost exactly the same. In other countries, there are often more than two parties, and their positions are radically different from one another on many issues.

The memory of the American people is not short. The zeitgeist is a simply a quiet one.

Why does America's two-party system fail us?

If we were not distracted by the war in Iraq, we would come back to the answer.

Remember the big to-do about removing corporate interests from the poltical process? Remember how that kind of disappeared from the agenda after 9/11/01?

Some people are starting to wonder if it's a coincidence.