Spoiling for a Fight: Dump the Duopoly

In an article for The Hill reflecting on the once "widely prophesized national partisan realignment," which predicted a majority shift toward the Democratic Party following the 2008 elections, David Hill argues rather that "the longer-term trend toward dealignment is still operant." Hill emphasizes the . . .

overlooked question regarding the need for a third party. Since 2003, Gallup has periodically asked Americans whether the two parties “do an adequate job of representing the American public” or whether they do such a poor job that “a third major party is needed.” The percentage backing a third party has fluctuated between 40 percent and 58 percent. That’s a sizable dissent from the classic notion that we are a two-party political system.

Of course, it is no mere slip when agitation for third party and independent activism on both the left and the right is "overlooked" by representatives of the duopoly parties, their enablers in the mainstream media and partisans of the political status quo. Rather, such omissions constitute an integral part of a more or less conscious strategy to maintain the ruling order, which is dominated by the Democratic-Republican Party.

As I recently documented in guest posts for The Rotterdam Windmill and The Hankster, calls for third party and independent alternatives to the duopoly system of government are growing noticeably louder in the Northeast, for instance. This trend continues apace. In Rhode Island's Valley Breeze, Frank Palma argues that the United States "is in desperate need of a viable, independent third party." It is no coincidence that the Moderate Party of Rhode Island is quickly gaining strength in the Ocean State. In New Hampshire's Sentinel Source, reader Larry Jones writes:

It has been said, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Thinking of the robotic loyalty most of your readers have to the Republicrat and Democrat duopoly, the aforementioned quote comes to mind, and for many good reasons . . . [concluding] Over and over again folks keep voting for the duopoly candidates expecting a different result. History shows it’s insane to do so. I say regain your sanity. Vote for Constitution or Libertarian Party candidates and throw out the duopoly liars!

And in the Bangor Daily News, independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008, Herbert Hoffman makes the case that the run-up to the 2010 midterm elections . . .

is an opportune time for third parties and independents to join together, to bask in the sunlight, to reaffirm the principles of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, to challenge the Democratic-Republican stranglehold on electoral politics, to support candidates for office and commence the political revolution.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Arguably, any such effort must be preceded or accompanied by a thorough-going critique of Democratic-Republican Party politics supplemented by an imaginative re-thinking of political antagonism as such. At Folk Politics, Liberal Arts Dude continues to stake out common ground between opponents of the reigning political status quo across the political spectrum, and sees potential points of overlap on the following questions:

• Do ordinary people have a strong voice and power in American democracy? Should they?
• Do the two major parties actually represent the interests of ordinary people? Should they?
• Is the country is being led effectively by our elected leaders from either of the major parties?
• Should a wider spectrum of perspectives, viewpoints and solutions be represented in public discourse and institutions than just Republican or Democrat?
• Do the mainstream political parties care more for their own internal interests rather than the interests of the country as a whole?
• Will you be willing to join a third political party or vote for a third party or independent candidate in an election?
• Will you be willing to participate in political activities and actions that are designed to address the issues above?

Duopolist ideologues and apologists of the two-party state are fond of arguing that third party and independent activism, at best, results only in a spoiled electoral contest. Yet, it is precisely the Democratic and Republican Parties that have spoiled politics in the United States. Though activists and everyday folks on both sides of the traditional left-right political divide may disagree on particular issues and individual policy proposals, it is in everyone's best interests to foster a political order which is more representative of and responsive to the people of the United States rather than the political operatives and corporate paymasters of the Democratic-Republican Party and the apparatus of the global warfare and corporate welfare state.