The Dangers Of A Two Party System
Several weeks ago I wrote a post pointing out how, through closed primaries, the 21%ers will control who’s at the top of the Republican ticket. Frank Rich digs deeper, and, as bored as I am with Sarah Palin, Rich points out why we may be dealing with her in 2012. (Read the whole article.)
In the aftermath of her decision to drop out and cash in, Palin’s standing in the G.O.P. actually rose in the USA Today/Gallup poll. No less than 71 percent of Republicans said they would vote for her for president. That overwhelming majority isn’t just the “base” of the Republican Party that liberals and conservatives alike tend to ghettoize as a rump backwater minority. It is the party, or pretty much what remains of it in the Barack Obama era.
Time for a viable third party, because this much power in the hands of a small minority is dangerous. Just by running as a Republican, Palin is launched into the political arena denied to third party candidates. (And yes, I’ve always disliked the two party system. And yes, I seriously wanted the GOP to get its act together. So save your reprimands for someone else.)
That’s why Palin won’t go gently into the good night, much as some Republicans in Washington might wish. She is not just the party’s biggest star and most charismatic television performer; she is its only star and charismatic performer. Most important, she stands for a genuine movement: a dwindling white nonurban America that is aflame with grievances and awash in self-pity as the country hurtles into the 21st century and leaves it behind. Palin gives this movement a major party brand and political plausibility that its open-throated media auxiliary, exemplified by Glenn Beck, cannot.
Major party brand. She’ll ride the “R” brand for her own ends – reaping the benefits of “balanced reporting” from the MSM and automatically being included in every debate. Yet again, Palin will receive something she didn’t earn. And that instant elevation into the major leagues is nothing to laugh at. Palin (R) will start on an equal footing granted to a two party system. And unless something drastic happens, the 21%ers will call the shots and Palin should be the nominee.
It’s more likely that she will never get anywhere near the White House, and not just because of her own limitations. The Palinist “real America” is demographically doomed to keep shrinking. But the emotion it represents is disproportionately powerful for its numbers. It’s an anger that Palin enjoyed stoking during her “palling around with terrorists” crusade against Obama on the campaign trail. It’s an anger that’s curdled into self-martyrdom since Inauguration Day.
Let’s hope so.
Tags: Frank Rich, National Republicans, Palin
I’m like you Pandora. On the one hand I relish the idea of a Palin branded GOP because they would be so easy to defeat in the general. (Face it, Palin for President would be like Protack running for Governor.)
But that is the partisan Jason speaking. The thing is, unlike Republicans, I put the country ahead of my party and I know the lunatic Palin-GOP would be bad for America.
I do my share of pointing and laughing as well, Jason. That said, Palin heading up the Republican ticket is no laughing matter. Strange things happen during the run up to an election, and whenever I get too cocky I think about what could have happened if Edwards were our nominee. Oy!
Come on, 71% of Republicans would vote for Mahmoud Ahmedinejad if he had an R next to his name.
Our system is built in such a way that the natural configuration is two parties that ultimately stay towards the center of the body politic. Only a system of proportional representation — or a parliamentary system — would allow for the long-term existence of a multi-party system in this country.
Bull Moose Party. Reform Party. One-hit wonders.
I don’t think Palin is going to form a third party – Way toooo much work. I predict she’ll run as an R.
I agree, RWR. So long as our elections are based on winner take all single member districts, we will have a two party system with only a rare third party breaking through every five generations or so. But even when a third party breaks through, it usually results in the death of another party, hence making that third party one of the two main parties. Witnesses the rise of the Republicans and the demise of the Whigs.
Other third parties or independent candidate movements may succeed in garnering enough votes to affect an election, and that is more common, and oddly self defeating.
To Rhymes with Right and Delaware Dem: Proportional representation (PR) is not the _only_ way out. The two-party system is a result of single-winner plurality districts (see Duverger’s Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law on wikipedia). PR attacks the first half of that, single winner, but it’s also possible to attack the second half, the plurality election method.
Spoiler free election methods (such as approval voting and score voting, http://rangevoting.org ) would not be susceptible to Duverger’s Law, removing the systemic stranglehold of the two-party system, allowing third parties to grow and, eventually, win elections.
(Instant runoff voting, another alternative election method that’s been gaining some popularity, is NOT spoiler free, and would not help third-party candidates win elections.)