I read and hear a lot about the third party solution to the stalemate in our Congress. I heard so much about it that at one point I signed on and started advocating for the California based Centrist party. But I’ve reconsidered that position after giving it more thought. In America, no third party has ever had a significant impact on our electoral process. True, there is one socialist in the Senate, but one out of one hundred isn’t really significant. And, actually, Bernie Sanders is more like a super liberal Democrat than true solcialist. Ever since the Supreme Court gave personhood to Corporations and allowed them to spend as much money as they can part with without debilitating mental trauma and thereby tilted the balance of power even more heavily to the 1%, I’ve been wondering if we wouldn’t be better off going to a ONE party system. Everybody should switch to the Republican Party.
O.K., O.K., I can hear the screams all the way from here. But think about it. Aren’t there several Republicans in the Democratic Party Caucus right now. What about Joe Lieberman? Yes, I know, he’s an independent. But he has voted against the smaller parts of the jobs bill and though he voted to bring the whole bill to the floor, he said he would vote against it when it came up for a final vote. He also campaigned alongside John McCain for the presidency. There’s also Ben Nelson of Nebraska. He frequently votes against his own party and with the Republicans. John Tester of Montana is another Senator who has voted with Republicans. On the other hand there are a couple of Republicans who frequently vote with the Democrats. Both Senators from Maine, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe have done so.
There are several benefits to reducing the number of parties to one. One benefit would be that state legislators could no longer gerrymander districts to favor one party over the other. There wouldn’t be any other. We could design districts that were regularly shaped and all of about equal population. That would mean no safe seats in Congress. Members of the House and Senate would have to vote with the majority of the people in their districts rather than along ideological lines. A second benefit would be that all corporate money donated to the Republican Party would have to be split between all the candidates because they would all be Republicans. If the Republican Party refused to give money to a candidate because they seemed more liberal than other candidates, the Party could be sued for unfair practices. A third benefit would be that all votes in Congress on both the House and the Senate sides would be majority votes. One party couldn’t filibuster the other because there wouldn’t be any other party to filibuster. In fact, there would have to be a wholesale change in the rules Congress works under. Right now committee chairs are selected from the majority party. That would have to go. Each committee is made up of a majority of the majority party. That would have to change. Maybe each member of Congress would have to take a test to see just where his/her talents lie and committee memberships could be awarded based on the results of the tests. Maybe members of Congress would run for office based on the committee assignments they were most qualified for. Teachers could run to be on the education committee. Accountants could run to be on the budget committee. Real estate agents could run to be on the housing committee and so on. A fourth benefit of the one party system would be a much simpler election process. Primaries to determine the candidates for president would be wide open because everyone would be registered as a Republican. In my state of Maryland, if a voter is registered as a Democrat, that voter is not allowed to vote for a Republican or an Independent in the primary. If everyone were a Republican I could vote for the candidate I thought would do the best job for the middle class. And there would only be one national political convention to select the nominees. Imagine that, all your favorite shows would only be interrupted on one night. National conventions have become little more than stage shows for the parties since everyone already knows who the candidates will be. And there wouldn’t necessarily have to be just two candidates. Maybe three people could be selected as nominees. And maybe four or five people could run for Vice President. There wouldn’t have to be a two person ticket because everyone running would be from the same party. Wouldn’t that be fun? In the election for President, there might as well not be an electoral college because everyone would be voting for the Republican candidate. It’s just about time the electoral college drifted off into the dusty pages of history anyway. It wouldn’t really be missed. There are probably even more wonderful benefits to the one party system that I haven’t thought of. if you think of any, please don’t hesitate to list them in the comments section.
But why, I can hear you asking, should Democrats be the ones to switch. Paa leez, Republicans get sweaty palms when contemplating changing their underwear, switching parties would be well beyond the level of change they can tolerate. Democrats don’t belong to an organized party anyway. Changing would be much easier for them. Yes, I think the one party system is the way to go. George Washington, in his farewell address upon leaving the Presidency, warned against the dangers of party politics. I think it’s about time we heeded the great man’s warning. Because we humans are predators, we view life most frequently as a contest, a struggle for more territory, for more possessions, for more power. But we are one nation, one people. We should be working toward the most good for all Americans. Our party structure has driven a wedge between us and the gap is growing wider almost daily. It’s time to reverse the process.