I want to preface this by saying that I abhor the idea of political parties in general. I am not a member of either of the two main parties, and in 2016, I voted for a third party candidate that better fit my personal values overall. Being that I live in South Carolina, I do not have to register under a specific party. The only limitation I really have is that I can only vote in one party’s primary. In that case, I vote in the primary that has the candidate I want to support the most, regardless of which party it is. I have been old enough to vote since 2000, and in that time I have voted for the Republican candidate twice, Democratic candidate twice, and third party once. I make my decision based solely on my personal opinion of the candidates who are running. I personally lean more liberal mostly, but there are some issues that I will lean more conservatively on. That being said, no one came here to read about how I vote, or even how I choose to. At least not for now. The future is yet untold.
The truth of it is that I’m not alone in these thoughts. While there are certainly plenty of people who vote straight Democrat or straight Republican when they vote, no matter who the candidate is, there are also many others that are more like me in the sense that one party does not necessarily check all of the boxes in every single election cycle. This leads to an entire group of people who may not feel intrinsically unrepresented, but feel, at the very least, UNDER represented by those in office, or by those running for office.
These thoughts are the main catalyst for my stance that the United States needs viable third, and even fourth party options in order to better represent the diversity of this nation. Personally, I know people and are friendly with people from all ends of the spectrum. I know hardcore Democrats who vote Blue no matter what, and I know hardcore Republicans who do the same for their side. However, I’d venture to day that most of my friends fall somewhere in the middle. While they may identify better with one side of the aisle over the other in most things, they don’t necessarily agree on all things that side represents. I have heard from them that they feel, as I often do, that their voice can’t properly be heard because they hate voting for a candidate they only partially support.
The biggest issue present is the system that is in place. The current system in place is built to support two main parties, and does itself best to relegate any other parties to sideshow status. The Commission on Presidential Debates is the best known use of this political oppression. It’s a nonprofit group that was created in 1987 and co-sponsored by the Democratic and Republican parties in order to suppress the ability of third parties to be able to take part in Presidential Debates without meeting several conditions in fundraising, as well as poll percentage. The last time a third party candidate was able to take part in any Presidential debate was in 1992 when Ross Perot was allowed to as an independent candidate, not one sponsored by any particular party. He did, however, create the Reform Party in 1996 as the flag under which his campaign resided. In the 1992 election, he garnered 18% of the popular vote, showing that a third party could be relevant. He was most popular with moderates from both sides, which is to say he was essentially the guy in the middle of both ideologies.
I think the success that Perot had in 1992 (and somewhat in 1996) was very telling, and since then, the rules for debate have been changed in response. It wasn’t until the 2000 election that a third party candidate was required to have 15% polling percentage from 5 major polls before being allowed to debate. The major parties fear their loss of control so much that they won’t even allow other ideologies to be spoken of. This has forced candidates who would be viable third party candidates to have to run for President under the guise of the two parties because they would not be allowed to get out there any other way. This includes such candidates as Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, Elizabeth Warren (who has oddly been both a Republican and Democrat in her career), Herman Cain, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina. There has also been support for third party candidates at the state level. Jesse Ventura won the governorship of Minnesota in 1998 under the Reform Party. Gary Johnson was a two term governor of New Mexico from the Libertarian Party.
The political atmosphere as of late has become a breeding ground for new ideals in politics, as most young voters have grown tired of the system they feel forced to take part of. The amount of distrust that younger generations (mostly people born in the 1980s and later) have in the government to do the right thing is astronomical. Of course, there are absolutely people on both sides who staunchly support the two major parties, but I would be willing to bet that most of them only do so because they feel there is not a better option available. Fringe politicians are running more often than they used to and even getting elected sometimes, including Alexendria Ocasio-Cortez and Roy Moore, The truth is that there are about 58 political parties currently active in the United States, including the Democrat, Republican, Green, and Libertarian parties. Now in a nation of 328.2 million people, they’re telling us that the best options to lead this nation can only come from two ideologies.
I personally don’t know what the best solution is, but I would advocate for a ranked choice voting system where voters get to rank their choices in order of preference, and to declare a winner, a clear majority (50 percent plus 1) must be earned by that candidate. It’s a system that is being used in several municipalities in this country, and has been gaining favor as of late. One person, one vote forces people to make a singular choice that is supposed to represent their entire belief system. Quite honestly, it’s a corrupt system that is used to push specific agendas from the two main parties with very little input from anyone else, including the populace that elected them. It’s become nothing more than a power struggle between the two parties for control, no matter what the cost ends up being in the long run. The problem is that the cost is one paid by the citizens of the United States. As unfortunate as it is, I feel that the government in general has lost touch with the needs and desires of the common man, and they say the things they have to in order to try to convince us otherwise. Ultimately though, there are not many who are true to their word about helping their constituents once they get into office. It’s all about progressing the party agenda.
Personally I would be happiest if political parties were banned in general, but we know that will never happen. There’s too much greed and power at stake. The right solution is out there, somewhere in between where we are, and what we have the potential to be. It’s definitely a liquid situation, and maybe one day we can get out of the funk we’re currently in. I believe in the American people that we can find a solution that works, but there will definitely have to be trial and error involved. All I know is, where we are right now, is not where most people truly want to be.
One State, Two States, Red States, Blue States 