A third wheel

The (almost) American way

“Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a wellknown solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.”

—H.L. Mencken

THE AMERICAN people are telling the two major political parties, almost shouting it: Give us better candidates! And this isn’t the first year they’ve said that.

Look at 2016. Look at 2020. Look at what’s coming (very possibly) in 2024. Why are We the People always picking the lesser of two evils in presidential elections?

A new CNN poll says that just a third of Americans say President Joe Biden “deserves to be re-elected.” (That many?) He has an approval rating of 42 percent, with 57 percent disapproving of his performance in office. Twothirds of those polled say Joe Biden “does not have the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively.”

According to CNN: “All told, just 32 percent say that Biden deserves re-election to the presidency, down 5 points since December and about on par with the 33 percent who said the same thing about Trump in November 2017.” Oh, they mentioned Donald Trump. Another CNN poll shows that 60 percent of Americans approve of the indictment in New York over the former president’s alleged hush money payments to a porn star. And independents support the indictment 62 percent to 38. A majority that supports your arrest isn’t likely to want you on the presidential ticket.

And still, it appears as though the smart money would be on a 2020 rematch of nominees. Anything can happen. But would you bet against it?

Now comes the No Labels outfit, trying to get its third-party ballots in all 50 states by 2024. The group says it wants an “insurance policy” in case the two major parties put up “unacceptable” nominees (again). The Washington Post reports:

“Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has not declared whether he will run for re-election next year, and former Maryland governor Larry Hogan (R) are also supporters of the effort, and both said they have not ruled out participating in a No Labels presidential ticket, if it happens.”

Oh, not this again.

It seems to come along every four years, this idea that the United States electorate wants a third party on the ballot in the presidential up-comin’, although when given a real choice in a real election, only a sliver of Americans actually vote that way. Although a sliver is all it takes to push an election one way or t’ other when the nation is this divided.

Remember in 2000, when Al Gore lost Florida (and the presidency) to George W. Bush by 537 votes? And in a state in which Ralph Nader got nearly 100,000 votes?

Does anybody believe any of those Nader voters would have preferred Bush II to Al Gore? Their votes weren’t just thrown away, they were used to help their least favorite candidate. Or we assume that a Nader voter would have preferred Mr. Gore. (An assumption we’ll stick with.)

Third parties are great— for governments that are run by coalition. And your vote helps your cause and beliefs. But in the American electoral system, voting outside the two-party system might actually thwart your cause and beliefs. Just ask all those conservatives who voted for H. Ross Perot in 1992.

THE TWO-PARTY system gets a bad rap. But without it, how would the electorate know who to hold responsible in government? There would be no party in power to blame or praise. Instead this country could come to resemble some of Europe’s less stable democracies, in which multiple parties have to form coalition governments. And then watch that government swing and sway when a disagreement emerges among the handful of parties in the coalition, each with only a limited amount of public support itself.

The two-party system supplies a way for voters to make their choice clear— and provide a stable, accountable government.

How have a contest without clearly defined teams? Or even vaguely defined ones. The players would be left to wander all over the field on their own— without common aims. Whatever its faults, whatever sad spectacles it produces, at least the two-party system is a system, not a random encounter.

The two-party system works. That sound you hear is the friction of its unevenly moving parts. But they do move. Even if none too fast. Which would suit the Founders fine.

Heaven love the well-intentioned folks who form all these third parties in America. They’re welcome to all the politics they want. It’s a free country.

It’d just be shame to waste a perfectly good presidential vote on any of them.