Here’s why “third parties,” that is, any parties other than Republicans and Democrats, find it almost impossible to win elections, or establish themselves as a political force.
There will be voters who are impressed with Jennifer Kurland, and what the Green Party stands for. Others will be drawn to Bill Gelineau’s common sense, and some who consider themselves overtaxed will feel that Todd Schlieger is speaking for them.
But when Election Day gets nearer, many of these voters will worry. They really prefer these candidates and what they stand for, but sense they can’t win. Some will then reluctantly decide that what matters most is stopping Bill Schuette, and so they will vote for Gretchen Whitmer. Others will decide that what matters most is stopping Whitmer, and so they will vote for Schuette. The closer the election, the more this tends to happen.
Democrats remain horrified by the memory of 2000, when almost a hundred thousand Florida voters chose Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, and George W. Bush beat Al Gore in the state by 553 votes. They think that Gore would have won the state and the election if Nader hadn’t been on the ballot, though he, of course, had every right to be.
There is a solution we could adopt that would both work to give third parties a better chance and prevent the citizens’ will from being distorted: A system usually called IRV, Instant Runoff Voting. Here is how it would work: Voters would pick both a first and second choice,
If their first choice didn’t get a majority of the vote, then your ballot would then go to the second choice. Under this system, you could indicate, say, Jennifer Kurland as your first choice and Gretchen Whitmer as your second, or any other combination you chose.
This might not help third parties win, at least not right away, but it might influence policy by showing that more people tend to favor their positions than establishment politicians realize.
Third parties face another big hurdle, however. Our system has evolved into one that has room for only two parties. The founding fathers didn’t intend this; in one of their rare lapses of vision, they didn’t expect political parties at all.
Instead, two parties emerged almost immediately. Now, it is quite possible for a new movement to win control of one of the major parties and cause an ideological realignment.
That happened to some extent to both parties in the 1960s. But in order for a true third party to be successful, they wouldn’t have to just elect a governor, but a majority in the legislature.
It is entirely possible that someone could be elected governor of Michigan as an independent someday. But when they got there, they would face a legislature made up of Republicans and Democrats. The new governor could either affiliate in some way with one party or the other, or spend four years being essentially powerless.
That’s why Bernie Sanders is a member of the Democratic caucus in the U.S. Senate, even though he calls himself a socialist. Third parties have actually been very important throughout American history; they often herald new trends which are then co-opted by one of the major parties. But for them to really share power, we’d have to change our Constitutions to allow proportional representation and European-style parliaments.
Don’t look for that to happen anytime soon.
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