Re: The Purple Party
Dave Tahija
location: Butte, Montana, en route from San Francisco to Juneau
listening to: Train - Save me, San Francisco
registered: 1999.12.27
posts: 261
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Interesting article but it doesn't go where it needs to. America doesn't need a third party; it needs a third, fourth, fifth and sixth party.It was apparent to me after the 2000 election that the U.S two-party system was dead: the Democratic Party was incapable of fielding a team that could form a governing majority. Since then, the country has given the Republicans a shot at one-party rule. It's been a disaster and won't continue.A third party alone is no answer. Those of us who are neither Republicans nor Democrats are too diverse to be herded into any single tent. And that's just those who vote; half the country gave up the ballot box long ago. These people need a reason, many reasons, to come back into the systemWhat is needed clearly, is a multiparty system, similar to those that function in virtually all other Western democracies. In such a system, both voters and politicians can easily and quickly switch allegiance to a party that is a better fit for them, whether because a new party comes up with a better idea or an old one is hijacked by extremists or corruption. In recent years, Japan, Canada and Israel have furnished examples of this phenomenon.Of course, no matter how the cards are dealt, the Republican and Democratic parties will remain crucial for many years. There are too many people like John Prine's grandfather, who voted for Eisenhower 'cos Lincoln won the war, for either of them to fade too far too fast.A variety of political options would deprive both of the current parties of any hope of being a majority. Neither of them could rule except as the senior member of a coaltion. This would tend to temper them, to make them become centrist parties in order to be able to co-operate with potential partners and as their most extreme members jumped ship for one of the new minority parties.
D
Dave Tahija
(view)
Interesting article but it doesn't go where it needs to. America doesn't need a third party; it needs a third, fourth, fifth and sixth party.It was apparent to me after the 2000 election that the U.S two-party system was dead: the Democratic Party was incapable of fielding a team that could form a governing majority. Since then, the country has given the Republicans a shot at one-party rule. It's been a disaster and won't continue.A third party alone is no answer. Those of us who are neither Republicans nor Democrats are too diverse to be herded into any single tent. And that's just those who vote; half the country gave up the ballot box long ago. These people need a reason, many reasons, to come back into the systemWhat is needed clearly, is a multiparty system, similar to those that function in virtually all other Western democracies. In such a system, both voters and politicians can easily and quickly switch allegiance to a party that is a better fit for them, whether because a new party comes up with a better idea or an old one is hijacked by extremists or corruption. In recent years, Japan, Canada and Israel have furnished examples of this phenomenon.Of course, no matter how the cards are dealt, the Republican and Democratic parties will remain crucial for many years. There are too many people like John Prine's grandfather, who voted for Eisenhower 'cos Lincoln won the war, for either of them to fade too far too fast.A variety of political options would deprive both of the current parties of any hope of being a majority. Neither of them could rule except as the senior member of a coaltion. This would tend to temper them, to make them become centrist parties in order to be able to co-operate with potential partners and as their most extreme members jumped ship for one of the new minority parties.
