January 19, 2005
Kinky Politics
Author and singer Kinky Friedman has announced his candidacy for Governor of Texas in 2006. While I find no cause for concern in his platform, which focuses on education and judicial reform, and I appreciate the levity he brings to the table, are third parties doomed to only get media coverage if they can run a ‘gag’ candidate? Third parties have a tough time competing beyond the State Legislature level anywhere.
There are notable exceptions of course, but for the most part a lack of funds and a complete lack of interest on the part of the media prevent us from being able to reach a substantial audience. While money is a big issue, the media and the district boundaries probably have a far greater effect on third party candidates for any office.
Unless the candidate already has a high name recognition factor, they will be completely ignored by the media. Even the local TV stations and newspapers will only cover the Democrat and Republican candidates in most districts. In St. Louis we have neighborhood papers as well as the daily ones and even at that very local oriented level, where candidates can actually speak to every single voter in the course of a campaign, the neighborhood papers ignore third parties. Without media coverage, candidates cannot reach outside the already committed base.
The other major factor that is changing the dynamics of local and state elections is district boundaries. Gerrymandering by both Democrats and Republicans attempts to create as many "safe" districts as possible. Which means if you support anyone other than the party in power, then your vote likely is wasted? Again, in St Louis City the Republicans don't even bother running anyone in a lot of the wards. In many parts of the country, the Democrats don't bother running anyone in "safe" Republican areas. With that being the case, what chance do third parties have? In Friedman's case, even he admits that since Texas has been gerrymandered so wildly there is pretty much zero chance of any non-Republican ever winning a state level office there again.
How do we get our message out when the duopoly is doing everything in their power to retain and consolidate their power? The very idea of "safe" districts is fundamentally undemocratic. And yet it is becoming more and more the norm. Fewer than 5 percent of Congressional races in 2004 had any level of risk to the incumbent at all. The media goes out of their way to not cover these sorts of problems and tries to deny they exist when they have to address them. I don't have any answers; I want to know what ideas you might have on how to deal with these problems.
Posted by rev_matt_y at January 19, 2005 04:27 PMrev_matt_y, you raised a number of issues and none of them are simple to discuss. I will try to respond with an overview.
There is a long standing smoldering feud in American history that is finally flaming into an all out war for the hearts and minds of Americans. That feud is between the D Hatfields, and the R McCoy’s. It is an historical battle that was destined one day to come to full battle. At its core is the mixed economy vs. virtually pure free enterprise. Of course there are other issues too, but, the real battle is over just what each party believes Americans are entitled to expect from their government.
The Democrats, starting with FDR and his mixed economy of capitalism blended with socialized programs, nurtured this nation to becoming the wealthiest on earth. But, as the mixed economy and the population grew, the cost and inefficiency of such a centralized federal approach, became the target for anti-Dem. rhetoric and argument. The R’s successfully turned Americans against the idea of federal government except in a minimalist way. Today, Americans want smaller government, less centralized government and the theoretical reduction in taxes that such changes they were told would bring about.
OK. Dem’s are out, Rep.’s are in. And the nation is split down the middle. Even a sizeable minority of progressives now have moved right on fiscal policy, and Dem. leaders are decrying the Republican borrow and spend approach. The Rep’s now have to convince the other 3/4 of Americans that they know better how to serve American’s needs and interests. Why 3/4? Because about half the folks in this country are no longer Dem or Rep, but, Independents, waiting for common sense candidate with common sense proposals to vote for.
With half the country independents and 1/2 of the other half (=1/4) being Dem’s., the Rep’s representing 1/4 of Americans have to convince the other 3/4 that they know what they are doing.
The writing is on the wall - they don’t! Each year that they are in power, American passes another point of no return in solving some basic American needs, like sustainable living wages, or nuclear waste disposal, and approaching is the end of Soc. Sec. insurance to prevent retired elderly from falling into poverty as well as their dependents should they become work disabled or die prematurely. (Though frankly, I don’t think Bush will get his way on this one.)
I say all this to provide a backdrop for the next sentence. It is not the right time for 3rd Parties to become competitive. The nation is focused on the D Hatfields and R McCoys and have no interest in lightweights wanting to enter the ring. Media is not covering 3rd parties because 3rd Parties don’t sell advertising these days.
But, 3rd Parties days are coming. One can only hope that the D Hats and R Mc’s haven’t destroyed America’s future entirely before the public wakes up and realizes their allegiance to the D’s and R’s were misplaced and following either of those dinosaurs still fighting early 20th century ideological battles is like betting on a dead horse, or about to be extinct species, more appropriately.
In the mean time, third parties have a job to do. They must build the local grass roots communication infrastructure directly to independents. That means identifying independents, developing mailing and phone lists of independents, saddling up to non-partisan citizen action and consumer advocacy groups, identifying and preparing potential candidates, and most important of all, find common ground with each other. Because no third party alone is going to rise to the heavy-weight class alone. If one rises, its counterpart will have to rise as well giving voters a new but distinctly different set of choices at the ballot box other than the D’s and R’s.
The only threat to this scenario I see is the level of American debt, national, trade, personal, and corporate. Carrying this kind of debt load seriously impairs America’s ability to bounce back from a major economic calamity like an East Coast Tsunami, or huge earth quake along the Texas to Boston fault line, or a two inch rise in Oceanic levels, or any number of other possible scenarios. Should that occur, it is unclear if 3rd parties will ever get a chance to significantly change American politics. Barring that however, I do believe their day is coming.
Americans have turned their backs on the Dems, and will in a decade or less, turn their backs on the Reps, and if 3rd parties are prepared to meet the nations challenges and communicate that preparedness to the public, they will find a very receptive voting public willing to listen.
Didn’t Texas already have a gag candidate for governor?
I think Bush’s main accomplishment as governor was to put in an express lane to the gas chamber.
