Valerie Parnell, Seminole County Watch columnist

There was a time, several decades ago, when Democrats ruled in Seminole County.  The belief then was that to win political office here, you had to be a Democrat.

Whether true or not, that belief did not serve the citizens of Seminole well.

Then, in the 1990s, things changed, and the Republicans took over dominance. Since then, they have ruled in Seminole County.  The belief now is that to win political office here, you have to be a Republican.

Whether true or not, that belief does not serve the citizens of Seminole well.

What does serve our citizens well, whether in Seminole or anywhere else, is the two-party system.  Much has been written during our country's storied existence about the unique experiment that was launched on that July morning in Philadelphia in 1776 to give birth to our country.

Our country in turn gave birth to a new form of government that has been unlike anything before or since.  For the most part, it has worked well, even when at various times our national psyche may have strayed too far in one direction or another. 

It has worked greatly because of the sense of balance with which it is imbued by the two-party system.  The merits of having only two dominant political parties can be argued into the night on a theoretical basis, but doing so will never change the political reality.

The two-party system has allowed opinions and beliefs from each side of the spectrum to pull one another towards the middle, generating a consensus that serves and satisfies both sides and benefiting the nation as a whole.

Our founding fathers reflected many of those wide-ranging beliefs and opinions in their various personalities and respective character. 

One of the consensual beliefs they shared was that of human nature, and the fear that personal ideologies would be allowed to unfairly taint the political process, voiding it of sincere philosophical dialogue and making it hostage to those in power rather than holding those in power accountable to the process emanating from the people of which it was ultimately comprised.

It seems more and more, we are tainting and corrupting our political process, moving closer with each step to destroying the unique experiment that has thrived for over 200 years in its original state.

Doing so does not serve our interests well, even if we think otherwise in the short run.  Ultimately, by changing the rules to accommodate our desires, we create a system that will eventually threaten us as much as it now serves us.

One of the examples of how this has happened is with the political boundaries of districts that determine who represents us within our government. 

Over the years, the boundaries have increasingly become an instrument of those in power whose goal is to preserve their strength at the commensurate weakening of those who are not in power.

It is an issue that knows no political boundaries, as events of this weekend have shown.  California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger came to Florida to raise campaign cash with the aid of Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Bush is seeking to help his California counterpart in the latter's battle with the California legislature, which is controlled by the opposition Democratic Party.  Knowing that he cannot win at the polls because of the gerrymandering ways of the legislature, Schwarzenegger is seeking to remove the determining of political boundaries from the legislature's hands and placed under the authority of an independent commission.

Ironically, Democrats are seeking to do the same thing in Florida, to release the ironclad grip exercised by the Republican-controlled state legislature.  Yet, here, because it does not serve his or his party's interests, Bush is opposing the effort.

Another layer of irony:  Schwarzenegger is seeking to accomplish his goal through the ballot initiative process that will allow citizens to have the issue placed on the ballot for a statewide vote.

Here in Florida, because it does not serve his or his party's interests, Bush is opposing the effort.

And wait, there is even more.  Those attempting to reform the process for determining political districts in California are turning to outside funding sources to help underwrite the costs of their efforts.  Jeb Bush gave that effort a large helping hand this weekend.

And, yes, you guessed it:  here in Florida, because it does not serve his or his party's interests, Jeb Bush opposes allowing outside funding of such efforts within our state.

The underlying truth is that Bush is not doing this because of partisan politics but because of simply politics.  It is how our game of government has come to be played, by both parties, whether it is Democrats in California or Republicans in Florida.

The rest of us need to get back in the game.  A starting point is to reform the way political boundaries are determined, and to take it away from the politicians.  It needs to be placed into the hands of fair-minded, independent arbiters whose goal is the public interest and the public good rather than parochial partisan concerns.

In Florida, an effort is being made to do just that, and we should all lend our support, regardless of our personal political persuasions. 

Visit the website of the Committee for Fair Elections, download the petitions, and help to start the process of actually taking back our government from those whose only concept of public service is to use it as a platitude at election time.

 Email Valerie Parnell