Political Polarization
You may have heard me talk with the author of a book called The Politics Industry not that long ago here on KXEL. The thesis of the book is that increased partisanship has led to the gridlock we now have, with little end in sight unless we change things and limit the dominance of the two-party system. The book notes some fascinating statistics, worthy of sharing today.
The percentage of moderates in both houses of Congress has declined steadily and dramatically over time, on both sides of the aisle. In 1951, 44 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of Democrats were seen as moderates. Today, those numbers are down to 11 percent for Republicans and only 6 percent for Democrats.
The number of us who identify as not being affiliated with either party is also on the rise, nearing an all time high. 41 percent of Americans say they are independent…only 30 percent claim to be Democrats and 28 percent Republicans. In essence, each party has about the same share…with a significant number more than either saying no thanks to one of their labels.
The two parties have a stranglehold on general elections. 44 states have so-called ‘sore loser’ laws, making it impossible for a candidate who loses in a primary to run as an independent in the general election. It’s that way in Iowa, due to filing deadlines. Remember in 2006, long-time incumbent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman was primaried out…but won in the general election not as a Democrat, but as an independent. That can’t happen virtually anywhere else.
The authors suggest instead of having a Republican primary and a Democrat primary…there should be one primary where candidates regardless of political affiliation run, with the top two votegetters advancing to the general election. They believe that leads to more competitive races, even in districts where one party has a huge voter registration advantage, because more moderate candidates have a chance–as opposed to getting defeated by hard-liners in each respective party.
Certainly an interesting theory. I’m not sure about how successful it would be, even if the Republicans and Democrats who control the law-making bodies who establish such rules went along–and that would be a long shot. But you have to applaud the effort, since the stalemates and logjams we have now are not serving we the people very well…so we the people need to consider some alternatives beyond ponging from voting for a far left candidate one year and a far right candidate the next and calling that ‘change’.News/Talk 1540 KXEL · Iowa Politics — Wed. Aug. 19, 2020
