Ideas For Democracy:  Goal #1

Transform the Two-Party Plutocracy, a form of tyranny, into a multi-party system.

 

Citizens who want real democracy will actively support this policy and vote for trustworthy candidates who actively support this policy.  This goal is number one if the citizens of the U.S.A. want to live in a real democracy.

 

IFD - policy:  Every legal means shall be employed to peacefully transform the Two-Party Tyranny into a multi-party system.  The Constitution provides no definitions or restrictions as to how a political party may be formed.  There is no Constitutional provision that establishes a two-party system or any restriction on the number of political parties that may represent the political factions or political interests of the population.  The Congress is not vested with the power to limit the number of political parties or candidates for elective office.  To the extent that the Congress has acted to impose a so-called "two-party system" on the electoral process, that "two-party system" is illegal.  The electoral process of the United States of America must allow for elimination of one or both of the two parties in the "two-party system," the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, by the voters, in order for the federal government to support a democratic electoral process.

 

The President of the United States of America is elected by the States.  The President of the United States of America is elected by the Presidential Electors (Electoral College) of each of the States respectively and by the Presidential Electors collectively.  The Constitution does not vest in the Congress the power to control how the Presidential Electors shall cast their votes for the office of President.  The Presidential Electors can cast preliminary votes and then final votes following a compromise made by two or more candidates.  A similar process could be applied to election of Senators and Representatives.

The destructive and anti-democratic mechanisms of the two-party problem:

1)  The two-party problem has the effect of having votes cast for a liberal or progressive candidate accrue to the benefit of a conservative or right-wing candidate, and votes cast for a conservative or fundamentalist candidate accrue to the benefit of a progressive or left-wing candidate.  The two-party system is so dysfunctional, it reverses the will of the people and elects candidates who advocate the opposite of what the people vote for.

 

2)  The two-party problem polarizes citizens and all issues of political and economic interest to the nation.  It makes every political discussion evolve promptly into the formulation of a combat between only two opposing factions, articulated as a kind of battle or war that one side will win and the other side will lose.  Intelligent discussion of the issues is discouraged or rendered impossible by this angry and bitter polarization into right versus wrong, black versus white, yes versus no, moral versus immoral, practical versus irrational.  Each side discredits and disrespects the other.  Practical compromise is characterized as a weakness or betrayal, and as a result we get a Congress that conducts political campaigns and party fund raisers permanently instead of doing the work they were hired for:  governing the nation and implementing the will of the people.                  

 

3)  The two-party problem has led to a disastrous distortion of what the Legislative Branch is supposed to do.  Members of Congress have spoken and acted over time as though they really believe their role is to accept bribes (called "contributions") from corporations and then advocate for the legislative goals of those corporations.  In effect, this means such members of Congress are corporate lobbyists who represent the interests of business entities and ignore their constituency of taxpayers and voting citizens.  They are self-serving lobbyists being paid their wages with public funds.  

 

4)  The two-party problem has led to the appointment of corrupt persons to the Supreme Court who have ruled that "money is speech" in regard to political campaigns, supporting the concept that the rich can buy members of Congress with bribes under the guise of "campaign contributions."  How could American judges, who are supposed to know our history and the meaning of democracy, rule that "money is speech," a viewpoint that is suited to the social position of Medieval royalty and the nobility of 18th century Europe?  To confirm as a matter of law that people with more money inherently possess "more speech" is among the most obviously anti-democratic concepts that one could imagine.  To confirm as a matter of law that the rich have a right to promote their viewpoints and the candidates whom they support with their money is equivalent to the oppressive doctrine that the nobility have a right to rule and the common citizens have an obligation to shut up and accept the domination and control of government by the nobility, however oppressive, blind and selfish and misguided it may be.

 

5)  The two-party problem has led to the public political environment where one party represents the financial interests of the nobility and the other party represents the financial interests of the commoners, and the two parties engage in political war over who will get to spend the taxpayers' money instead of rational discussion as to what is the wisest way to spend the taxpayers' money.

 

6)  The two-party problem has led to the public political environment where the national debate has been steered toward re-consideration as to whether the people of America want a democracy, want equal rights before the law, want free speech and separation of religious institutions from the institutions of civil government.  It is as though the purpose of the two-party system is to make the American Civil War a permanent conflict that will never be settled or resolved in favor of freedom for all.

 

The two-party problem is destroying the United States of American and no one elected to office can save the nation unless the citizens save it first by replacing the two-party system with a multi-party system.  The two-party system has no legal standing, was never established by law and could not be established by law under our Constitution because our Constitution does not vest the power to control political factions in the Congress or any institution of government.  Under our Constitution a political party is a social and political faction of the people that is free to pursue the support of voters for laws, policies and candidates.  In the U.S.A., a political party is a group of people exercising their right to organize.  Any declaration that we shall have only two political parties, or that two political parties are adequate to represent the political viewpoints and interest of all American citizens is a vicious attack on American self-government.  If the American people actually did choose the two-party system, then they have decided to reject the goals of the American Revolution.