There is a widespread belief the political status quo is due for a very big shakeup. Six months away from the next round of federal elections the scent of the third way is in the air. The Wall Street Journal weighs in on the issue.
Peggy Noonan: The problem is not that the two parties are polarized. In many ways they're closer than ever. The problem is that the parties in Washington, and the people on the ground in America, are polarized. There is an increasing and profound distance between the rulers of both parties and the people--between the elites and the grunts, between those in power and those who put them there.An excellent analysis at Q and O concurs with the growing disconnect between career politicians and the American citizen, but notes the ideological division between our professional rulers is very real.
Dale Franks: The party system, as it's developed at the national level since 1968, has left liberty-loving Americans at a bit of a loss. One of the parties seems to have a laissez-faire attitude towards economic questions, but has become increasingly totalitarian on moral issues, while the other party has become laissaez-faire on moral issues, while becoming increasingly totalitarian on economic issues. Within a generation—indeed, half a generation—we have turned out one party in Congress for their arrogance and wild spending, only to see their successors from the opposing party quickly growing to ape their predecessors ways. And in both cases, Federal Spending has grown and grown.Somewhere on the internet is a cogent explanation of why it is highly unlikely America will develop a stable long term third party alternative to the Republicans and Democrats. I can’t find my way back to where I read it so I am downloading the internet in an attempt to locate the post.
The point made is that the two established political parties are playing a continual game where the most votes wins. If any third party movement develops into a significant block of votes, then the existing political organizations will change to capture those precious requirements for power. In other words, big fish eat little fish to remain big fish, and they will morph into something different to remain big. As long as citizen votes legitimize our politicians, then whenever our conflicting desires coalesce into blocks of voter turn out, the process will induce change within the government.
