Green - Democrat Follies

[bemildred]

Mods: This is mine, I hereby set it free for anyone to use.

The thing is this, there have been many third parties in US politics since the Civil War, one hundred and forty five years ago, and all have failed, remained on the margins in the end, and the two we had then are what we still have now. I consider that that is no accident, so I consider that the idea "the US is run by a two-party duopoly" is, in some sense, true.

There is no reason to think that the Greens, or any other third party, will achieve power while that remains true. Both "major" parties, as they are now constituted, have a vested interest in the status quo, which gives them special status, and they may be expected to combine, as they have in the past, to thwart the rise of a third major party, or to challenges to the control of the parties themselves by "outsiders".

It is not even clear that, were it to be accomplished, simply by the addition of a third major party, the results would be less pernicious than what we have now.

I am not opposed to the Green party as such, I vote for them at times, but never in the expectation that I am doing anything but expressing an opinion, when it does not otherwise appear to matter, which will be ignored.

Well then, that being so, and if you are in sympathy with Green Party positions, what are you to do? The answer is: that in order to change the way things work, you have to attain real power, within the present system, and the only way to do that is to take over one of the existing two parties, and then win a mandate, majority control. At that point, you are in a position to change how things work, and not before. Even then, it won't be easy; and of course, once you have power, you lose your interest in changing the system.

Now, the way the parties are set up, that is much easier with the Democratic Party, which is, oddly enough, organized in a more democratic way than the Republican Party. So, if you want to change the way things work in this country, and to change government policy in line with Green Party positions, the most effective avenue open to you is the get involved in Democratic Party politics, gain control of the party, sell your policies to the electorate, and win a mandate.

And that is why working within the Democratic Party, grass-roots organizing and getting local candidates elected and taking control of state parties and state legislatures is important, more important that protest votes for otherwise quite attractive Green Party candidates. Since Republican stands and policy on these issues are worse that Democratic ones, this is easy to do anyway, even if you have to hold your nose at times. Green policy is advanced when Republicans lose and Democrats win.

[Tace]

1. Let's Push The GOP To Extinction...

that will open the door for a new party on the left.

What I'm seeing long-term is the demise of the GOP, and the ascendence of Dems to power. As Dems take control... and the GOP dies, a new party appears and grows, to the left of the Dems.

I'm a stump about this stuff... but this is what I'm thinking.

[bemildred]

2. Yes, I agree, that's the ticket.

Crush them, and the Democratic party will schism, the present arrangement will have to reform. As people like to point out, there is nothing in the Constitution that mandates the present arrangement. The problem is that the self-interest of Congress and the two major parties is served by it. It will require sustained pressure within the present system, at the state and local level, to force change.