FACEBOOK
TWITTER
Is the Two-Party poltical system doomed?
Since neither established political party has been able (or willing) to get us out of Iraq or Afghanistan except for lip service, promises, and more deceit, I’ve dreamed of the demise of two party political control over the American political system, because I see that having a multi-party system would be preferable to the one party dominance that the two party system represents.
For example here in Ohio, at least until NOW, the only way a third party or independent minded candidate (one not blessed by the Ohio state Democratic or Republican party apparatus) could get on the ballot was by running as lets say a Libertarian/Republican or Green or Socialist running as a Democrat. Now finally a slew of independent candidates from Tea Baggers to Socialist have gotten enough signatures to break dual party hold over the ballot box.
The Ohio Secretary of State’s office was recently asked this question about two party ballot control. I noticed that now when I vote in a primary election in Ohio that I can vote for a political party other than just “Republican” and “Democratic.” Why are there different political parties holding primary elections this year (2010)?
The response from the Ohio Secretary of State was that citizens have the right to form political parties and to have the candidates of those political parties appear on the ballot with the party label.
The upside of having more than two parties is that each party would more closely represent the views and values of party members instead of a spread from let’s say left of center to moderates representing the Democrat Party and moderates to right of center the Republican what we are witnessing is the birth of not a third party movement stealing votes from the two but the emergence of a multiparty system that both the Dems and Republicans will do everything to prevent in the name of corporate greed, wars, hidden agendas, and yes special interests that have kept the established party in power at state level for far too long.
The downside is that even I have to accept the coexistence of people and parties that do not share my values and yet reach some kind of compromise or understanding not to kill each other out of hate, racism, or shear anger. If I register to vote as an Independent, Green, Socialist, Libertarian, or Democrat then I have to learn to compete fairly, honestly, and respectfully with Constitutionalists, or Republicans to get my views and vote across.
Frankly, I believe the hardest part is not accepting the existence of more political parties to choose from, the hard nut to crack is being willing to accept defeat at the polls. For instance, I believe there is more about being sore losers at the polls to the Tea Party movement than there is any real or imagined threat to the public from Big Government.
In Ohio for the longest or first time that I can remember, now that I’ve lost interest in supporting any of the two party candidates, because I can tell little difference between them, I’m thrilled to see the emergency of more than two parties making it on the ballot. My wife and I have not decided yet which party or candidate to support (well really candidate) but it will not be a Democrat or Republican nor some yahoo running as a Dem or Repub claiming to be an independent. We now have from the Independent, Socialist, Constitutional, Libertarian, Green, Democrat, and Republican parties to choose from.
Yes, the two parties still hold dominance over our political system at the lower city and county level, but that is because the independent parties if I may have yet to learn to organize at the grassroots level. That much credit I will give the Tea Bag movement or Constitutionalists Party if I may. They are showing an ability to organize at local level that the Libertarian or any other fringe party has not except maybe at state and federal level.
Suffice it to say, at least from Ohio, I feel a warm and fuzzy that not only do I now have freedom of political choice, I’m finally seeing more than one flavor to register as. I for one plan on registering either as an Independent or Socialist. Socialist some of my former conservative friends would say, how could a retired military officer even think that way.
When all is said and done I am not arrogant enough to tell anyone how to VOTE, but only to ask our readers to VOTE SMART regardless if you endorse or worship the status quo of the two party system or are a anti-incumbent like me, at the minimum check what exactly each party really stands for?
How does what they say they stand for represent your views and values?
Once you understand what each party represents, then check out the specific candidate to see how closely he or she represents your values and view then go from there.
Again not telling anyone what to do one way or another but speaking for myself, I intend registering as anything but a Democrat or Republican in this primary, because by our Ohio State law during a Primary is the only time a voter can register party affiliation.
Robert L. Hanafin, Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired, Veterans Today News
Is the Two Party Political System Doomed?
Looking at the emergence of more than the traditional two parties in Ohio, I would not go as far as to say that the two party system is as much doomed as in trouble or hurting. Using the emergence of multi-parties in one state also IS NOT a measure on how effective this anti-incumbent passion really is nationally. No more than a single survey taken by one mainstream media outlet tells us that most Tea Baggers are more educated than the media assumed, make more money on average than media assumed, and related stereotypes made by the media. The picture mainstream media made of gun toting, racial slur spitting, angry white men and women did not quite fit the stereotypical image the media now wants to paint Tea Baggers to show they are a serious threat to the established Republican Party.
Frankly, the rise of the Constitution Party clearly shows Tea Baggers just may be able to hold their own as a political party who knows. However, we shall see.
Regardless, besides the Democrats and Republicans, voters in Ohio can now select to register party affiliation with the Green Party of Ohio, Constitution Party of Ohio, Libertarian Party of Ohio, Independent Party of Ohio, and Socialist Party of Ohio.
The Green Party of Ohio has been around a lot longer than the two party system controlling the ballot would like. Like a thorn in the side of the Republican Party that the Libertarian Party can be, one could consider the Green Party as moderate to left of center to leftists voters. It is composed of grassroots activists, environmentalists, advocates for social justice, nonviolent resisters, and regular citizens who’ve had enough of corporate-dominated politics. A good portion of the Peace movement would may also be found in this party in growing numbers.
The Constitution Party of Ohio has not been around as long as the Green Party, but it has been around a lot longer than the Tea Party movement that today has given a reawakening to the Constitution Party not only at national but local levels. One would consider members of this party to be moderate fiscal conservatives, to right of center, to far right in political views. In fact, it is their fringe element that makes them a break away from the Republican Party. The founders of the Constitution Party feel that most Americans want the same thing: Peace, Prosperity and Freedom. For these ends our Founding Fathers created a Constitutional Republic, which for the first 100 years prospered like no other nation in history. But for the last century, America has grown weary from war, debt and tyranny. Our nation’s own history has verified what our founding fathers keenly understood: that as government grows and becomes more centralized, the liberty of the people inevitably recedes
Despite their slight emphasis on Peace and Americans being weary of war, and debt, very few members of the Tea Party Movement have expressed fiscal concerns about the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, admitting war weariness leads to an open door for these fiscal conservatives to find some common ground with people in the Peace movement the only thing needed is a two way olive branch that neither established party has offered either group of fiscal conservatives or Peace activists.
The Libertarian Party of Ohio some would consider a close cousin of the Constitution Party. The most notable national figure in the Libertarian Party movement has been Congressman Ron Paul of Texas who has continuously run as a Republican. Like the Green Party of Ohio, the Libertarians have been around quite a while. In fact at least since 1971 nationally, and 1972 in Ohio. Also like the Green Party, the Libertarian Party of Ohio has managed to get a candidate or two on the ballot in Ohio as Republicans.
To sum up the political philosophy of the Libertarian Party would be quite difficult for like the established parities there is a left, center, and right wing. Suffice it to say that like the Constitution Party, the Libertarians do not believe in Big Government, never have. However, unlike the Constitution Party they are more passionate and serious about no involvement in foreign entanglements, no foreign aid, no military draft, and have taken a public opinion against both the Iraq and Afghanistan War without hitting the streets in significant numbers to protest or oppose the wars. However, they do recognize the fiscal costs of the wars. On balance, unlike the Green Party or Socialist Party that I will discuss next. The Libertarians also do not believe in social welfare or entitlement programs for these are subsidized by Big Government. For example, Libertarians may be willing to compromise and accept the funding of Veterans Health Care and Benefits at taxpayer funding, but not government subsidized health care for those who never served the nation in some way. Then of course they also may not compromise when the cost of Veterans Care goes up too much. Point is where does the Libertarian Party draw the line on which social programs it will support and which it will not.
The Socialist Party of Ohio (SPOH) was founded in 2010 however the Democratic Socialist Party of Ohio has been around since the turn of the 19th Century. In fact the Socialist Party has been a part of Ohio history longer than any other party outside of the Democrat and Republican. Today it is the state chapter of the Socialist Party USA The current SPOH is the successor of the state organization of the Socialist Party of America. SPOH was founded in 2010. The party has finally qualified itself for ballot access in Ohio for the 2010 primary election. From the SPUSA Statement of Principles….THE SOCIALIST PARTY strives to establish a radical democracy that places people’s lives under their own control – a non-racist, classless, feminist socialist society… where working people own and control the means of production and distribution through democratically-controlled public agencies; where full employment is realized for everyone who wants to work; where workers have the right to form unions freely, and to strike and engage in other forms of job actions; and where the production of society is used for the benefit of all humanity, not for the private profit of a few. We believe socialism and democracy are one and indivisible. The working class is in a key and central position to fight back against the ruling capitalist class and its power. The working class is the major force worldwide that can lead the way to a socialist future – to a real radical democracy.
Just as the election of Barack Obama brought out the Tea Party movement to energize the Constitution Party, Obama’s election has brought out the Socialist Party at National level that could create just as much a thorn in the side of the Democrat Party as the Constitution and Libertarian do the Republican mainstream.
In the words of Ohio Socialist Senatorial Candidate Dan La Botz who has the signatures needed to get his name on the ballot for U.S. Senate in Ohio, when asked by the media what his working definition of socialism was, and did he think Americans have a good/bad view of socialism, and why?
Dan responded: “The Republican’s battle against the Democrats’ health care plan has had a surprising result. The conservatives accused Obama of being a socialist because of that plan. This has led many to draw the conclusion that if they believe in health care for all, then they must be socialists. So overnight, millions of people have become open to thinking about the socialist alternative.”
‘We live today in a country where capitalism and the corporations provide the model for life: selfishness, competition, greed, and disdain for others. It’s a poor model, violent, and destructive,” Dan said.
He believes that, “as a people should take collective, social control over the largest industries and corporations in our country. We should democratically elaborate a plan to use our wealth to provide a decent life for all. Most Americans, I believe, share this vision of a just society. We might make our nation one where we take care of each other, where we insure that all are taken care of. We might in that process, create a nation where one loved one’s neighbor as one’s self.”
Like the Green Party, a growing number of Peace activists and members of the Peace movement are beginning to see the Socialist alternative. However, what I’ve learned about multi-party political systems that evolved in democracies elsewhere on earth (England and Japan come to mind, but are not the only examples) is that the minority parties somehow have to form alliances with other minority parties in order to challenge the dominance of a one or two party system of power that is controlled by corporations and a wealthy elite. For multi-parties to thrive in the American experience would take achieving something that the two party system has failed to do FIND COMMON GROUND on everything from health care of all, smaller government, and fiscal conservatism that does less harm than good for our people.
One closing comment on the emergence of multi-political parties is that a few have not an will not get mainstream media attention due to their heritage and by nature. The Constitution Party should now be able to gain mainstream media coverage due to the news generated by the Tea Party movement. In comparison the Socialist Party will get very little attention, because this party challenges the very corporate dominance of mainstream media.
Related Posts:
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=27339
Posted by Robert L. Hanafin on Apr 18 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
COMMENTS
To post, we ask that you login using Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail in the box below.Don't have a social network account? Register and Login direct with VT and post.
Before you post, read our Comment Policy - Feedback
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Veterans Today. Veterans Today said: Veterans Today: Is the Two-Party poltical system doomed? http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/04/18/is-the-two-party-poltical-system-doomed/ [...]
here is the real problem
There are 207,643,594 eligible voters in the U.S. The census bureau estimates as of July have the US total population at 303,824,640. As of the 2006 general election the Voting Age Population (all adults) was 225,964,346 whereas the Voter Eligible Population (adults – ineligible people like felons or non-citizens) was 207,643,594.:: roughly 60 percent of the eligible will vote soooo that means 30/30 vote each for the two partys out of the thirty percent that win a very small percentage of that will make the rules ….therefore “majority rules ” ?? I don’t thinks so… it is more like the very tiny minority rule …sooo I fail to see how democratic system searves the people …it just does not ….and it just does not add up….
Paul you are pointing out the main flaw with the current voting system. Rest assured that leaders of movements outside of the two corporate-controlled parties are well aware of the flaws with the voting system as those flaws are a main reason that we have a government dominated by only two political parties. As we see alternate voting systems like Approval Voting and Range Voting adapted, we will also see more room in the political arena for truly different points of view.
Even IRV, which is an alternate voting system promoted by some progressives, is an improvement over the current voting system. However IRV has not been effective at breaking the unfair advantage of the two major parties in the places where it has been tried.
[...] Iѕ thе Two-Hаνе fun poltical system doomed? : Veterans Today [...]
President Thomas Jefferson: “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people take away the rights of the other 49%.”
Thomas Dillman, great, great, great, great grandson of Thomas Jefferson: “This post expands President Jefferson’s quote; “A multiple-party democracy is an even worse mob rule, where less than 30% of the people can take away the rights of more than 70% of the people.”
President Jefferson also stated: “The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.”
Tom – Texas Vet
What do you mean, “Is the two-party political system doomed?” It better be doomed, or our government is destined to have a total meltdown and anarchy! We all need to be hard at work making the two-party system a thing of the past. The two-party system IS the whole problem! It doesn’t matter if some other major party arises, we just need more representatives and senators who are not Republican or Democratic party puppets. We all need to try to shame incumbents into running as independent candidates (fat chance – but Ron Paul has the most real power of them all) and encourage good people to run as independents — any party will do. We should refuse to vote for any Republicans or Democrats in November at all levels as a matter of principal, regardless of how much we like them.
There are great people on “both sides of the aisle.” The problem is, there is only one aisle. I Wisconsin, I voted for Russ Feingold, not the Democratic National Committee. I voted for Paul Ryan, not the Republican Party. We in Southern Wisconsin had absolutely no voice in the House last year because Tammy Baldwin and Paul Ryan canceled out each others’ votes almost every time. We would get more benefit (and better governance) out of less capable, less experienced independent candidates than we will name recognition “Ted Kennedy’s” who are beholden to the two big parties.
Thanks for writing this article, Robert! This needs to be the mantra for everyone with a brain who cares.
Is Israel going to allow real choices in our electoral system? Perhaps we should contact them or their nearest command and control center to see if what you are advocating is allowed.
g
Gordon, this stuff about Israel secretly pulling strings across the board is starting to make sense to me as I see more and more connections.
Remember when NATO forces attacked Taliban units that had hijacked two fuel trucks that got stuck in the desert near Kunduz, Afghanistan in September 2009? I thought that was a perfect use of force. While some “innocent civilians” were reportedly killed in the attack, it sent the right message — don’t harbor/help/get near the bad guys, or you too will be considered a target.
But, if I remember right, the NATO German command team who called in the strikes were given a lot of grief and ended up pulling out or something.
Do you think Israel had anything to do with the German group being persecuted rather than rewarded (due to the fact they were German and the underlying historic animosity)?
Both parties are already the same – so the system should be doomed.
As Carroll Quigley recorded decades ago…
“The two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election, without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy…” When one party has been power for a period of time and possibly corrupt or vigorless, “Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party, which will be none of those (negative) things, but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.”
This has been the problem since the turn of the last century, and The Fed in 1913. Teddy Roosevelt saw the problem and created a new party.
That could be the only way out right now.
damn fine article. those whining about being ruled by 30%, i would remind , that we are being ruled by fewer than 10% right now. don’t jump, just think.
We definatly need a multiple electoral system.the people want this and the people are the leaders according to our constitution. not the democrats or republicans parties.with the Independants we have a chance to break the gridlock of the two party system that is more concerned with destroying each other than concentrating on the important issues.I’m considering a run for state representative as an Independant here in Florida.I’m a disabled Vietnam veteran who knows what war and fighting brings and causes.Its time to get back to what made this country so great.because the truth is right infront of us all.Thats not a two party system any longer.Time to shake things up and vote for other than the two parties that are controlled as stated in all the above comments.
Here’s an idea… Screw the old fashioned two party system, that is not working in these modern times, it’s out dated.. Just look at what’s going on in congress today, one party was in control for eight years, started 3 wars, hundreds of thousands killed and trillions of dollars pissed away,and left us with two wars and an economy in desaster… Now that the other side is in power, the loosers desided that they will just sit on their asses and do nothing but bitch…
If the hired hands in Washington don’t want to do their job, than WE don’t pay them, if that doesn’t work than fire them and take away all their life time benifits to boot… They have it way to good for what they do anyway, this isn’t 1950 anymore… They want to stop wasted spending, than they’d be the best place to start wasting money…
Another thing to, We as veterans need better support, and in my mind now that some elections are comming up, we need people to vote in office that will do a good for our veterans, or else don’t vote for them, no matter what party they belong to..
We have to start somewhere, and this is as good a time as any to start VETERAN REFORM… If the canidates don’t support veterans, than they don’t need our votes either….
Washington has been out of hand for over a decade, and with these hard times this is the best time to clean house… We need to get rid of the old assholes that have been in our government and serve only their corperate golf buddies, and closed door deals, and get new people that want to serve the citizens of this country, which is the way it’s suppost to be… We need to get the message across people, and now is our time to do it… Lets just stop bitching and acctually get some changes made.. We as a group have the power and the right, HELL we served our country we shouldn’t be treated like dirt, kicked like dogs by the VA system, have our money and land robbed from us…. This needs to STOP…..
Come on… We all have one more good fight in us, WE ARE VETERANS….
DON”T VOTE FOR A JOKER…….
‘Those who do not remember history….’
Fourth Party System http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Fourth_Party_System
PROGRESSIVE PARTY http://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/progressive_party.jsp
in U.S. history, the name of three political organizations, active, respectively, in the presidential elections of 1912, 1924, and 1948.
Your mythical third, fourth, and fifth parties will NEVER stand a chance. One, they have no money. Two, they have no organization. Three, they’re all a lunatic fringe with one-slogan chants.
The teabaggers are being bankrolled by a few wealthy “We Hate All Things Obama!” billionaires. They have no agenda, and no plans. They just hate Obama.
The greenies were bankrolled by the repubs, and their sole agenda was to split the dem vote.
The libers are just reichers who want to legalize all drugs. Ain’t gonna happen. Big pharma has too much at stake.
The latest version of the socies — like the last six incarnations — ARE all on drugs.
Now, for a dose of reality.
The reason the dems have been so ineffective is that MOST OF THEM ARE NOT ACTUALLY DEMS.
One of Herr Karl ‘Goebbels’ Rove’s strategies, for FORTY YEARS NOW, has been to draft reichwingers to run as stealth dems — take money from the DNC, make liberal-sounding noises, apologize for their reicher voting record by claiming to have “learned better.”
But in fact, the name beside the “D” on the ballot, as often as not, is one of Rove’s secret hench-thugs.
We saw that in the war debates, the health-care fight, the bailouts. We see that in what the media chooses to highlight, the sudden reasonless withdrawal of nominees, the fact that the “majority” still bickers and whines and stalls.
Come the primaries, DO NOT waste your vote on some outlier-party nutcase. Check the voting record of all major-party contenders. If one of the contenders is anti-choice, anti-environment, pro-school-vouchers, THAT PERSON IS ONE OF ROVE’S.
Don’t buy the rhetoric. Check the RECORD.
REAL dems opposed the war from the day that the WMD claim was proven to be a lie. But you saw what happened as soon as Obama said “Okay, enough of this” — the FAKE dems turned on him. Hm, yeah, wouldn’t have anything to do with where their profits are coming from, now would it?
CHECK THE RECORD. Yes, it requires five minutes on a search engine. But who you elect affects THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. So do a little homework, huh?
There is no such thing as a perfect electoral system so we should probably be resigned to being dis-satisfied no matter what reforms we might make to it. I recently heard a former member of the British parliament expounding on how awful their system is and how much superior the American electoral system is in comparison. In quick summary, minority parties there never get any say and members of parliament could be replaced by robots since they must always vote the party line.
The fact is that so long as we have a winner-take-all system there will be a strong pressure to avoid third parties. The problem is that when a third party takes a significant part of the vote it is quite possible for the candidate who is favored by the least number of voters to win the election. Sadly, with only two parties, in the general election there is never much to choose from and the real democratic action is forced into the primaries.
There are some modifications to our electoral system that could possibly help. For example there is instant-runoff voting; it is somewhat complicated, however, and there is another reform, the “National Popular vote”, which seems likely to pass and which will make instant-runoff voting bewilderingly complex.
A somewhat similar approach, fusion voting, may be the best alternative. It used to be used here in the USA, however no state permits it any more. In this system, several parties will support the same candidate, allowing a voter to express support for a minor party while voting for a candidate that could actually win.
Another reform that we should make is to turn the nomination process into something meaningful. As it stands, even if a party has a dozen good candidates to be President, the media arbitrarily rules out all but two or three as being not viable (viability has nothing to do with popular support, it has to do with how much money a candidate has to spend on advertising). The only choice the voters have in the primaries is among the two or three candidates the media selects for them. Perhaps what we need is a return to something like the League of Women Voters. It was that organization that used to run the debates. They did it fairly and the media could only cover it as it happened.
[...] Is the Two-Party poltical system doomed? : Veterans Today [...]
[...] Is the Two-Party poltical system doomed? : Veterans Today [...]
Other blogs that mention Veterans Today
[...] Is the Two-Party poltical system doomed? : Veterans Today [...]
[...] Is the Two-Party poltical system doomed? : Veterans Today [...]
Sent into Veterans Today by email from Ohio Senatorial Candidate Dan La Botz, the Socialist candidate for U.S. Senate
Dear Robert L. Hanafin,
A very nice article–”Is the Two-Party System Doomed”–which you wrote for Veterans Today and I appreciated having my views so fairly represented and discussed in it. If you continue to write about the election, as I imagine you will, I would be happy to speak with you. Or you can follow my campaign at DanLaBotz.com, on Facebook at Dan La Botz, Socialist for Senate, or on YouTube by searching my name.
I will look forward to reading other things you write, if you have a listserv for your readers.
Dan La Botz
[...] April 26, 2010 posted by Robert L. Hanafin · Leave a Comment ShareAs an add on to my article, Is the Two-Party poltical system doomed?, [...]
My dearest, I am just only making a sort of an advice and suggestions for the readers, researchers and the annalyse: One political system is being termed as a Dictatorship of Plotariatism on power or rule, where as they also killed people and fail to address public issues.
On the other hand, more one political system or pluralism caused also differences among the nations, people killed themselves, and chest away others as refugees to other countries and killed the innocent liefs on the pretext that they want to correct the system from bad to good governance.
If so, and therefore, the nations are looking for prosperity, progress and stability, then why?, peoples creat more political parties to confused rhe nations rather then have one political system widely accepted and open agreed by the nations to lead on the rotation bases, whereas it is guided by the strong constitution that has provided the general and the specific laws to governe the rights of the nation’s will.
The reason is as to why?, People belame “God” as a finger print unknowingly that is the one brought suffering of the world punishing, killing people and innocent liefs that including the other species in the universe, while Humans they talk, speak, see, hear, understand and they do!.
Yet they fail to come together on one thing to lead people till they caused dissasters reveging themselves, these are being caused by one more political systems.
These as for my personal suggestions, I would like the world to initiate the uncheatable system that can be acceptable to whole humans and less inhumanity, not to let “God” or
‘Nature” be on the right side of punishments which is the unknown of the untimely events and destructions of the people on the Planet Earth or the Universe!.