American third party overdue

September 29, 2013

According to a recent Gallup poll, Congress has a pitiful 14 percent approval rating. It’s a direct reflection of the extreme frustration Americans are feeling with our frozen governance caused by the never-ending partisan political debate.

I believe most voters, whether Democrats, Republicans or independents, are equally disappointed by our broken governance. Supporters from both parties often say that while they don’t always agree with the actions taken by their party leaders, they truly hate the extremists on the other side. And so most stick with their chosen party, hoping the actions of their elected representatives will soon match theirs and their party’s espoused values.

Sadly, what supporters of both parties mostly receive in return is carefully constructed rhetoric designed to further fuel the fires of anger against the true enemy in the other party. In military terms, it’s called divide and conquer. And make no mistake about it, the conquered will end up being all American citizens!

Independent voters are perhaps the most upset. They chose to register as independents mainly because they know neither party is representing the best interests of most Americans. However, they remain mostly stuck with choosing from among the candidates of the two existing parties. As a result, their only choices are to either not participate in elections or vote for the least worst candidates.

I believe the majority of Americans, regardless of voter registration, are moderate centrists. A much smaller proportion, by actions or words, show themselves to be ultra-conservatives or ultra-liberals. I call them “ultra” because they find it to be nearly impossible to even slightly compromise their core beliefs. It’s why they are also called extremists.

Their inability to compromise is a perfect example of what Voltaire meant when he said, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Clearly he meant holding desperately to one’s version of perfect solutions for problems completely prevents finding any good solutions. Both parties hold diametrically opposed visions of perfection. Their resulting actions have frozen our governance, and it appears both sides would rather see our nation die than compromise.

Both parties are engaged in a battle to the death of their opponent. Unfortunately, if left unchecked, it will lead to the death of America.

I have long advocated for firing all incumbents. I have abandoned this direct approach in favor of a more realistic idea, which accomplishes the same objective of forcing our elected to actually represent the best interests of the majority of our citizens. I’m now supporting the creation of a centrist-sponsored third party that would shrink the size of the two existing parties and severely reduce the power of the extremists leading them.

Think about it — what’s magic about having only two major political parties? Many other nations have multiple parties. Our two-party system worked fine as long as those we elected actually listened to the voices of the majority of Americans and compromised according to what they heard. However, both parties have been captured by the extremists. The parties’ collective actions prove majority voices are no longer heeded.

Perhaps the Canadian political system, with its three primary parties, offers a better model for governing. It has left- and right-dominated parties similar to ours. But it also has a third party, supported primarily by moderate centrists, that has for most of the past century served as a buffer between the extremists on either end of the political spectrum. It seems Canada has found a viable solution for perfect being the enemy of good.

The base for creating a third party already exists in America. It is populated by the 25 percent of all voters who are now registered as independents. In fact, the two existing parties have lost nearly 1.5 million registered voters since 2008.

Independent voters reject being classified as red or blue Americans. As this base of independent voters grows, it is inevitable that a third party will be created that will force our future elected to focus more on the best interests of we the people.

If you are an American who views yourself as a moderate centrist, and you are unhappy with the actions of the extremists in both parties, please change your voter registration to independent as soon as possible. Even if you have given up and aren’t registered, please register as an independent.

By taking this action, we can increasingly show both parties that the majority of Americans no longer support their extremist-led agendas.

We simply cannot stand idly by and hope perfect answers will be forthcoming. We don’t even need perfect — good would be a major improvement over the status quo!

If you agree, please change your voter registration, and pass this article on to your friends.  Please don’t sit on the sidelines and do nothing. If we fail to act, we deserve what we will receive — and it won’t be pretty!