New Party not Third Party

 The two major political parties are not really in sync with and do not represent the majority of Americans today.  But a third party is not the answer; rather, we need a recalibration of the two parties that currently exist.

Through Trump and MAGA, the Republican Party has come to represent a far Right that I and many other Americans do not want to be a part of.  Meanwhile, while it may not be clear what Biden stands for, his Democrat Party seems to represent a Leftist progressive socialism of identity politics, again something which I and many Americans do not want to be a part of. 

Faced with the likelihood that these two parties will choose Trump and Biden as their candidates for 2024, we hear much talk of a third-party candidate.  But, even with two such poor major candidates, we all know that a third party will likely do nothing more than prove to be a spoiler for one of those candidates. 

So where does that leave the Americans who do not find themselves on either the Right or Left extremes, who are basically moderates leaning towards one party on some issues and the other party on others?  The growing number of people labeling themselves as Independents is not a bad thing – these are the people who will vote not simply because someone wears a Red or Blue label but because of the ability and qualifications of the candidates along with the policy agenda that they put forth. 

These Independents and others who feel in one way or another abandoned by both Democrats and Republicans, need a party.  Not a third party, not a one issue party, not a spoiler party, but a real party that has the size and resources to truly contend for the high offices of this land, including President.

If such a party could rise and replace one of the current two major parties, I believe that the remaining party, be it Democrat or Republican, would, in order to survive and be competitive, move more toward its moderate aspects, which, in both parties once was characterized by bipartisanship and negotiation rather than the current divisiveness and hate. 

I believe that two such parties would provide us with two far better candidates from which to choose.  With two such parties we could perhaps find our way as Americans to come together again as one country and to work not against each other as enemies but together as allies who hold different views but want to solve the same problems. 

Our system is not set up for three parties, but it demands that the two parties we have be representative of more than just the extremes of our society and campaign on more substance than simply that they are not their allegedly evil opponent.  This could, perhaps, be the election where we could begin to build that strong replacement party.  We already have some strong possible candidates who might represent it:  Bobby Kennedy, currently running as an Independent; Joe Manchin, not yet a candidate but a strong contender for the No Labels party; Nikki Haley, currently running for the Republican nomination but whose supporters, in reality, are the moderates of both parties as well as Independents.  I am sure there are others out there who, if it did not seem futile, might be interested. 

But no third party or third candidate has a chance if the people do not give them one. We should not assume that we have no choice but Trump or Biden: neither is yet the official nominee of his party.  With concerted effort to deny one or both the necessary delegates to become that nominee, by voting for a different candidate in the primaries, then we the people can perhaps supplant one or both candidates with someone more representative of the moderate rather than the extremes of their respective party, and in so doing take a major step in replacing at least one of the two parties with one that is more representative of more Americans.

I think this could be managed against either Trump or Biden, either the Republican or the Democrat party, though I think it is more likely at this time to work in the Republican Party.  There is anti-Trump and/or anti-MAGA sentiment from both moderate Democrats and Republicans as well as Independents, and there is a viable candidate currently running along with Trump for the party’s nomination.  Imagine if many primary voters, rather than assuming the nomination has already been wrapped up, were to vote against Trump in the primaries:  they actually might effectuate a different nominee.

If this replacement effort were in regard to Trump, realistically Haley would likely rise as the nominee.  I believe she could and would move the Party more towards the center.  But it could just as easily be some other more moderate write-in candidate who would dethrone Trump or Biden. 

Assuming it were the Republicans who replaced the presumptive nominee with a more center-focused candidate, the Party would begin moving away from the quite frightening far Right of MAGA towards a more moderate center.  I believe this would push a similar move of the Democrat Party away from its Socialist Left toward its more traditional liberal base.  We actually might end up with a two-party system that would give us the kinds of candidates we were once used to in this country:  strong and wise statesmen not out to destroy their opposition but to work with them to find ways to lead America forward.

Unlikely as this may seem, it is possible.  But the people have to stand up and do this.  If they continue to cower behind the demands of the party leaders on both sides, we get exactly what we do not want but what we will deserve:  a country full of hate that continues to destroy itself from within.