Much of what afflicts democracy in the United States can be attributed to the two-party system. The political duopoly creates the illusion of substantive choices which conceal the monopoly of power in control by a single ruling, capitalist class. The debate over differences between the parties and politicians must necessary fall within the narrow lines of what perpetuates the profit system of capitalism and the political control by the ruling class or it represents a serious political threat. It may appear for a time at the political margins, but the system will work to undermine it overtime. If a politician cannot be bought with corporate money, the duopoly has historically found other means to purge the marginalized political voices. In such a system, striving to carve out a place for working people to have an equal voice is out of the question. It has never worked, and it never will. If we care about working people, this should matter to us. But breaking out of such fettered system is much easier said than done. Is it even possible?
It is my opinion, it is possible and necessary, but unlike most who advocate this idea, I do not think it is attainable overnight – or even in a single election cycle. In a short article like this, presenting a detailed model is out of the question and no doubt; such a plan would need many iterations even after implementation began. To be clear, this would be a plan to create a third political party and (in case it wasn’t already transparent) a party of the progressive left. Though I do identify myself as a Marxist, I would not anticipate that such an emerging party would explicitly embrace Marxism or any theory. But at its controlling base would be a coalition of working class organizations: labor unions, women’s groups, civil rights, social and economic justice groups, LGBQT rights, environmental groups etc. Building this kind coalition would take time, but it would be necessary to wage an organized struggle against the other two corporate parties. To even begin to imagine something like this happening across the country, the effort would have to start locally. There is of course, the problem that many of these groups now believe they are best represented through the Democratic Party. Persuading them to work apart from the Democratic Party machinery would be a formidable challenge.
There may be some reading this who would claim that the left has its third party now. It’s the Green Party. I have on occasion voted for Green Party candidates and even seen a few get elected here in California. But I’m sorry to say, the Green Party has no political base to speak of in the national electorate or among the broad segment of the working class. In 2016, Jill Stein captured 1% of the popular vote. Beyond the political junkies on the left, almost no working person across this country has even heard the name of the Green Party, let alone Jill Stein.
But in so many ways, the challenges to organizing a third party are extreme. The system is rigged to perpetuate the duopoly at all electoral levels. This why the strategy for creating a third party must be creative and bold as well as built toward a long-term horizon. Therefore, I will sketch out here roughly what I believe some necessary steps are. I think there are three basic organizing phases that must be completed in order to create a third party. If it is agreed that we are talking about the creation of a political party which can run candidates up and down the ballot at the local, state and national level and win, then what follows are my three basic phases:
Phase I. This is building a coalition of local progressive groups with the aim of electing corporate free candidates. This coalition would be autonomous (unaffiliated with the Democratic Party).The group could also focus on winning local nonpartisan races. All the candidates would commit to a list of issues that were of concern to the coalitions. Local issues of housing, transportation, immigrant rights etc. Winning local ballot measures and electoral victories would hopefully translate into greater local commitment in the work of the coalition.
Because these activities are very localized, some effort to connect up the local efforts regionally and statewide would be essential. Regional and statewide meetings could be held to discuss local successes to help build those efforts in new places. This could be done through the Internet and social networking as well. Key to this strategy is its autonomous nature. The group would sometimes help Democrats, in nonpartisan races where no party label would be needed. Other races candidates might actually run as Independents, or (if winnable) Green Party. This therefore, can be characterized as an “inside/outside” strategy.
Phase II. During this phase there are four major objectives. 1)One will use the regional and statewide meetings to form a statewide coalition. 2) One wants to build on one’s local victories by creating many more. The name of this group must be associated with good winning candidates and ballot issues. 3) Many of the candidates who won successfully in local races must be the candidate running for higher offices. Initially the targeted states will be where the statewide coalitions are the most viable so that one can network through the organization connections and Internet network connections to GOTV at the local level throughout the state. 4) A series on discussions will likely be held on formally identifying as a political party. This will probably be conducted on a state by state basis because of the complexity of the access laws in each state. Some states may be more ready to form a third party than others. A team of lawyers will volunteer their time to study ballot access requirements in the states where state coalitions are most ready. A nationwide state-by-state legal study may occur at the discretion of all the coalitions. If support for party formation is evident, then legal and financial mechanisms for party formation will be established. This party will accept no corporate PAC funding and all candidates who run with the party must also agree to no corporate donations of any kind. If the vote is in favor of becoming a political party in a state, there may be some candidates with initial misgivings about switching their party label who say, have run as Democrat in the past (for example). It seems reasonable to permit those people to maintain their status, if they don’t want to change. But any new candidates in the state would run under the new party banner. Some states might not be ready to switch to a political party. They could take longer to do it if needed. This would be the phase during which the fledging party could develop a national profile. By running effective campaigns and winning at the local and state level, it would hopefully gain more currency. By generating positive publicity through social media, tv and radio it would build name recognition.
Phase III. During this phase, ballot access will be proactively sought and obtained in all fifty states. Where feasible, state conventions will be held for the party, and there will definitely be a national convention, all of which will be broadcast live over the Internet and cable channels. Candidates will run for national offices in as many states as possible with a special focus on races that appear winnable (U.S. House of Representative and U.S. Senate) Candidates for president and vice president will be put forward assuming ballot access in every state is obtained. Ideally, the party will conduct its own presidential primary (or caucus) in every state. If the state political machinery and/or the media attempt to thwart these primaries and/or ignore them in the media, the primaries will be conducted through Internet conferencing and publicized on all the social networks. The details of this would be very exciting and different.
I have only barely sketched out this plan. Yet as rough as it is, I suspect most people deciding to form a third party never even think this far. They hardly grasp the power relationships or the legal and electoral hurdles that they must confront. Much more strategizing is required than I have committed to writing here. Most importantly however, smarter people than me are leading efforts right now that look a lot like this.