Time’s a’wasting
Few things are more wasteful or more futile than an independent or third party candidate with no chance of being elected. But in a few cases independent candidates have drained off enough votes to elect Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Votes for Ralph Nader led to George W.’s 1992 election and, consequently, the deaths of over 4,500 American servicemen in his unjustified, senseless war in Iraq, the effects from which we still haven’t recovered.
I firmly believe America needs a third today. No matter whom our two major parties elect, the wealthy elite and Wall Street still wind up calling the shots. And too often they put the same people with the same self-serving policies and subservient obedience in the Treasury Department. But I doubt if many independent voters truly believe both Hillary and the Donald are equally distasteful, equally incompetent or equally dangerous. But independent voters might actually put one of them in the White House by default. So why not make your vote count instead of being irrelevant?
I truly believe America needs a third political party because no matter whom we elect, little seems to change. The French have a saying for this paradox: “Plus que ca change, plus c’est la meme chose,” “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”
America’s two really successful third party movements began with substantial ideological differences. In the early nineteenth century the anti-Jackson Whigs gave us two presidents (actually four; the two elected died in office) and many congressmen, including Clay, Webster and an upstart from Illinois name Abraham something-or-other. And the Republicans, first formed as an antislavery party in 1852, seem to have done fairly well. But third party movements must begin with clearly-defined principles at the grass-roots level with a precinct-byprecinct, county-by-county initiative. And they must be capable of electing a president, vice president and congress. In this campaign Bernie’s and Donald’s ego trips have provided a vent for our frustrations, but little of real substance.
Our history reveals that extreme political polarization tends to discourage public interest and discourage voter participation. Among modern democracies today our record is an abysmal 31st among 34 in voter turnout. Only 65 percent of Americans eligible to vote are even registered. Not only a disgrace, that’s plumb scary. In social psychology this might be termed “mass learned helplessness.”
There is no longer any ideological overlap or balance in our two-party system. Moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats are a thing of the past. “Democrat” and “Republican” have become mere synonyms for “liberal” and “conservative. But compromise, no matter how ego-deflating or ideologically distasteful, is usually more advantageous to both parties and their constituents than today’s bull-headed, categorical refusal to negotiate by the GOP leadership.
Today a majority of Democrats and Republicans and 60 percent of independents agree that a third party is needed in 2020. Due to the difficulties of securing a place on the primary ballots, the presidential debates etc., the time to begin is now. America’s future depends on our efforts. Are we up to it?
George B. Reed Jr., who lives in Rossville, can be reached by email at reed1600@bellsouth.net.