This article by Peggy Noonan got me thinking about the reality of a third party existing in American. Not factoring in the established rules against third parties, I don’t think a third party could exist.
A third party is too weak to create a platform that pulls a piece of the liberal agenda and a piece of the conservative agenda. At least enough so as to amalgamate a voting majority to surpass both parties from which it usurps these ideas.
If a third party can’t do this, they’re forced to find an issue that neither party addresses, and then rally behind it. But, there isn’t a big enough issue (both in scope and appeal) to convince people to pull away from their traditional parties to create a successful third party to defeat the entrenched two-party system.
In the past, third parties have been issue-specific. They get enough of the vote to show the power parties that this specific issue is worthwhile (see here). Then, the smart power party borrows the issue, adding it to its platform. The issue-built party then dies.
Noonan suggests that, because the political parties in power aren’t listening to the concerns of the voters, a third party wouldn’t form by way of borrowing issues from both. Such an action wouldn’t create a party that voters would support.
Instead, she believes that if a third party is to arise, it will be based on these “real preferences and beliefs” that voters hold, but which are not being addressed or represented by the ruling parties. What issue could this be that is so broad and so strong and so latent in the minds of voters that it could overpower the media’s spin on it, dissect party lines, and still hold sway over voters for more than one run at political power?
I think that if a third party is to arise, it will rise in response to Americans asking the question, “What is an American?”. All the issues boiling over now (immigration, healthcare, incentives, Islamofacism, et. al) require that we answer this question before we move forward.
