Analysis | The problem for third parties? America is not a political free market.
Analysis | The problem for third parties? America is not a political free market.
Americans are deeply frustrated with politics. They see the country heading in the wrong direction. They are regularly forced to choose between two candidates they don’t particularly like. Between 40 and 50 percent of the country identifies not as Democrat or Republican but as independent.
Here is what it takes to get on the ballot in Pennsylvania. Read through that, noting the difference between candidates for “political parties” and “minor political parties.” Imagine you are thinking about putting forth a challenge to an incumbent state officeholder but don’t want to run as a Democrat or a Republican. What are the odds that you get tripped up by the rules?
The problem, of course, is that Americans have strong views about specific things on which they are often not going to be willing to compromise. The Forward essay criticizes the far left for wanting to get rid of guns and the far right for wanting to get rid of gun laws. But that’s not where the parties are, because the parties are responsive to the coalitions they’ve built. If you simply take some independents and sit them down — much less partisans! — you’re going to very quickly find a lot of important issues on which there is not a reachable consensus. Then what?
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They'll fight at the State level too. Look at Alaska trying to get RCV repealed.
Guys
Every single RCV initiative that I am aware of has come from a ballot referendum
Just put it on the ballot. Y'all are adding too many extra steps that require cooperation from the political class.
I'm crying in Texan: https://ballotpedia.org/Signature_requirements_for_ballot_measures_in_Texas
We don't have direct ballot measures/initiatives here, only what the legislature puts on the ballot for us.
Same in NC.
Texas has an initiative. I kinda agree with you that it seems a little unlikely right now but at least it might be good to help build the network out for a future day when Ken Paxton is in prison on federal charges and there's some realistic pressure possible on the Texas legislators.
Texas has an initiative.
But we voters only get to vote on it if a 2/3 majority in both the chambers of the legislature vote to put it on the ballot for us to. So it comes back to getting pro election reform candidates on the major party primaries and into the general in the state races.
For sure, in state courts. But since there already are some places with RCV, I'm cautiously optimistic that federal courts would be less likely to overturn any efforts that originated in and are limited to a single state. We've already seen federal courts gutting federal voting rights legislation in favor of states' "rights."