I hear all the time that people want change, more choices, and better candidates. The talk of third parties comes up often as a solution. But is a new major third party or more third party candidates good for Democracy or a path towards the Destruction of basic American fundamentals? As Americans we believe in Democracy, the notion of "Majority Rule, Minority Rights", right? See:
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/principles/majority.htm
I started thinking about third parties as I was reading about the Libertarian Party (LP) see their official website at:
http://www.lp.org/
I believe in most of their platform: individual rights, less government, personal freedom but is the inclusion of third parties beneficial to our society? Can it help with our troubled system of government?
According to a Pew Research Center poll released in 2006, 53% of respondents wanted a third political party in addition to Republicans and Democrats. See:
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=275
But what if a major third party was created and it was no longer majority rule. Because of the third party, a candidate could be elected with only 33.4% of the votes. If another major party was created then the percentage would fall even more. Is this what we want, only a fraction of the population electing the leader of the free world?
There is another drawback: with the inclusion of more major political parties it would increase the likelihood of radical and fringe groups gaining power. The American Communist Party, an Islamic-fundalmentist group, or a domestic terrorist group such as ELF could hold power in America. Remember with 10 major political parties, only 11% could send a President to The White House. With all the problems that face the two-party system of government, at least a majority of the country (either Electoral College or population) elects our leader.
Be careful what you wish for!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
We Will Never Forget
Posts
1 comment:
This appears to me to be a very simplistic argument. That just because there would be a "third party" candidate that would equate to "33% of the vote" becoming a majority.
I think a more plausable concept, is that a third party arise and replace one of the current majority parties. It's not so much the party structure, but the ideas that need to flourish in many instances. A third party rise wouldn't mean a change to weighted votes, but instead new ideas being voted upon.
The fanatical party/groups you mention would not necessarily gain popularity just because they upgraded their status from third party, but instead would gain popularity if they gained support at the voting booth. We're pretty safe from that outcome occuring.
Post a Comment