Column: Third parties are coming
Published April 27, 2010
My counterpart, Clay Carter, wrote Friday about how difficult it is for Independents and other third party candidates to get elected in both state and federal government. For once, Clay and I agree.
I think we have a great political system, theoretically, because anyone can run for office. In reality, unless you align yourself with one of two parties and are willing to make concessions about your platform and what you'll do in office, there's no hope of winning an election.
The constant struggle to pass legislation in our federal government is directly related to the fact our parties and representatives have to be so partisan. When there are only two sides in the debate, the side with the majority can basically do what it wants without a lot of difficulty. There's no incentive to reach across the aisle or be bipartisan. Because legislation can be passed this easily by a large majority, citizens become much more polarized, either in vindication or outrage.
Other countries with multiparty systems don't face those problems. When multiple parties have to share power, then real compromise can happen. When there is no clear majority, parties have to work together to write and pass acceptable legislation.
In Canada, the main parties — the Conservatives and the Liberals — hold a large portion of seats, but they also have to court both the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democratic parties to get enough votes to pass legislation.
The same is true in a lot of other parliamentary democracies, such as the U.K. and India. I think our system could incorporate third parties very easily because our system is pretty flexible. The most efficient way to start getting third party candidates in the legislature is changing the way we elect candidates.
If the ideological makeup of Congress reflected the national outcome of our election, it would be possible for the combined amount of dispersed third party votes to be worth a few seats, which is not an easy change. Under that system, representatives don't necessarily come from the districts they represent and are typically placed by the party.
I doubt Americans are ready to give up the notion of having "their" congressperson, but even without changing electoral policies, a strong national third party could start the process.
I don't agree with almost everything the Tea Party reformers say, but I am excited they have gained so much national prominence and a huge following. I think we could have legitimate Tea Party candidacies popping up in the next couple years, with realistic Progressive or New Democratic Party candidates not far behind. The next electoral cycle will prove whether this movement is a fad or not, but I have a gut feeling this might be a game changer.
Perhaps it's because I'm young and coming of age under a failed presidency, but from what I can tell, we live in particularly troubling political times. The ways our government has worked in the past are becoming obsolete because of changing enemies, changing foreign relations and a new world order.
Perhaps this slight shift in national politics is the edge America needs to keep itself from being crushed underneath its own ideological hubris. Third parties won't fix all our problems, but maybe they will allow us to look at them differently.
Jordan Stein is a senior political science major. She can be reached at jesf25@mail.missouri.edu