The American political system is broken. It is clear that rather than being the fault of a particular person or persons, the structure of American politics itself has collapsed. One of the supposed strengths of the American two party system is the fact that it can never be held hostage to the confused squabbles of true multi-party democracies. We sacrifice specificity of message for responsible governance. Not only is the idea that a decision between two choices should be enough inherently un-American, it has proven to be an inadequate means of representing the varied interests of the people of this vast land. Rather working to elect politicians from parties specifically addressing the concerns of their constituents, citizens are asked to cast their vote for the people they disagree with––or fear––less than the one other option available to them.
Of all of the problems this kind of political situation creates, one of the worst is the absolute disconnect between voters and the people they are voting for. The two party system, which strictly controls all levels of national, state, and local American politics allows for massive top-down control by party bosses in terms of choosing candidates. Launching a campaign without the backing of one of the two major parties (and thus without their money) basically necessitates one a single qualification for running for office: massive personal wealth. It should come as no surprise that the 112th Congress, filled of course with ‘independent, populist’ tea partiers, is 25% wealthier than the 111th. Citizens still vote for their representatives, but the process to even get on the ballot let alone have a chance of being elected nearly always requires insider support, personal wealth, or both
The two party system also creates a false standard of legitimacy. With Democrats and Republicans filling basically every elected office, running as a third party candidate is seen as automatically being outside of the 'mainstream' and having views that only a small fringe of society would agree with. In fact, we have seen that it is quite often more beneficial for a candidate to run as a pure independent, running on a cult of personality rather than a party manifest. For a candidate to succeed, or even be given a chance to succeed, he or she (usually he) must meet the standards of the party bosses before being presented to the people.
The two party system also gives the government––and by nature the party bosses, the insiders, etc––the power not only to dictate policy, but to dictate the kinds of questions being asked of the government, to dictate the facts by which our world supposedly runs. For longer than my entire life, the basic debates in the halls of Washington DC have not been whether or not to pursue a neoconservative/neoliberal military driven agenda, but how best to put such an agenda in place. Not whether or not to support the exponential growth in the power of money and the one percent who control most of it, but how best to help them. These are not arguments worthy of a Democracy, and yet, until the past few years, we have simply accepted that that was the way that government was, the way our government worked. Chief among the many reasons for this is the ability of the two parties to have seemingly different agendas but to ultimately serve the same Master: the establishment, big business, the military industrial complex, the one percent. It is in the interests of every insider, Republican or Democrat, to campaign hard against their 'foe' but harder against anyone threatening their false duality.
Both parties are beginning to be held responsible. Mistrust in every level of government is up, and while it is still important to point to specific poll numbers being low, it is clearly a general trend across all government rather than with a specific person, party, etc. People are fed up with every aspect of politics in this country. The disarray caused by the Tea Party within the Republican caucus may be matched with a similar discord among Democrats spawned by the Occupy movement (though in this cause there could and should be a reaction on the right as well). However, there is really only so much we can do within the strict confines of the status quo. The Republican party is being split in two (actually, a number of smaller groups could easily be formed out of the Republican party, but the two major groups would be the Bush/Romney/Cheney neocons and the Paul/Ryan/Bachmann libertarians-except-for-social-issues). This is a moment we must seize upon, not as Democrats hoping to score massive political points against our rival, but as Progressives pushing for greater accountability and transparency in government. After all, who knows better than us how many people have to hold their noses while they vote Democrat. I would argue that there have been few times in the history of this great land where the time was more ripe for true multi-party democracy. We must not let this moment pass.
To anyone paying attention to the world today it is obvious that many structural changes are needed both in our society and in our politics. In many of those situations, the power to make that change lies only nominally in the hands of the people. Changes to laws, to the structures of government, to the practices of business all require at least some measure of complicit help from within those organizations (baring revolutionary action). The disintegration of the two party system does not. Political parties are not made up of candidates, they are made up of constituents. We the people have the power to not only demand this kind of change but to actualize it.
This is not a process that can be rushed. The system is set up to perpetually give the Republicans and Democrats power over all challengers and the party bosses will not give up their monopoly without a fight. Insiders on both groups have been and will continue to be willing to cast aside party differences not for the good of the country but for the good of the political status quo. This is also not something which can be done only by the right or by the left. We must do this not as liberals or conservatives but as the 99%, the people who, lets face it, both Democrats and Republicans would rather trick than actually help. Before we can even get to pushing for a specific agenda to be passed, we must force the actual issues to be discussed, jobs, true financial reform, civil rights, etc.. If you need any further proof, just look at the people who will be leading the tickets in the next election. Romney and Obama share more commonalities than having daddy problems. In a societal political atmosphere filled with passionate civilian arguments for libertarianism, progressivism, theocracy, and collectivization among many others, our choice will be between two centrist neoliberals.
We can do better.
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