BALLOT BOX MONOPOLY

by John Rensenbrink

Dark thoughts about the state of our politics abound.

     John Buell was especially eloquent on the phenomenon of non-voting in his "Eye on Washington" guest column on this page two weeks ago. The picture looks dark, no doubt, but let's look again and question the picture makers. They scrunch their thinking to fit within the frame of Republican/Democratic politics.

     Suppose instead we entertain the possibility that the stunning withdrawal of scores of millions of Americans from politics is a withdrawal from these two parties. The withdrawal could then be seen as a positive sign, instead of something to excoriate and moralize about. Thinking along this line, you then could look for evidence of political renewal that occurs outside of or in spite of Republican and Democratic politics.

     I first identify features of the political scene that contribute to the withdrawal of the voter, and then point to new political party activity that lightens up an otherwise bleak political landscape.

     Voter turnout in the election just past was dismal. Only 72.5 million Americans voted. An estimated 119,450,000 eligible voters stayed away from the ballot box. It was the lowest participation rate since 1942 and the lowest outside the South since 1818. (These figures and others that follow are made available by the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate and by the Center for Voting and Democracy in Washington, D.C.)

     As has become quite usual in past decades, incumbents dominate. Out of 401 incumbents running in House races, 395 won. And most were shoo-ins, winning by landslide victory margins of more than 20 percent. No contest.

     Only 13 percent of House members faced financially competitive races. Two thirds of incumbents had margins of 10 to 1 or better over their opponents in terms of PAC contributions. No contest and no choice for the voter.

     In 94 congressional districts, there was only one (ONE!) major party candidate even running. No contest. And no choice at all.

     Indeed, in most districts the Republican almost always wins or the Democrat almost always wins. Congressional districts are carefully gerrymandered by Republicans and Democrats to produce this convenient result. No contest, no choice and dull politics.

      A different picture emerges here. Most voters are disenfranchised. For scores of millions of Americans there is little point in going to the polls exept to ratify a foregone conclusion. Sound familiar? Isn't that what we found so abhorrent in the Soviet system?

      One must add a few more disturbing aspects to the picture in order more fully to know what to make of it.

      It is arguably the case that in the past several decades the two major parties have grown more and more similar. Both parties have taken up the money game big time. Getting big bucks from big companies and special interests for slick, but very expensive, TV ads, including especially attack ads, is now the accepted way of conducting political campaigns for both parties.

      Furthermore, both parties permit and even encourage special access to the lawmaking process for high-priced lobbyists paid for by these same companies and special interests. This has become the "normal" way of conducting public business in Washington and the state capitals. Practical solutions to major problems facing us regarding health, energy, social security, education, sprawl, globalization, air/water/food poisoning, climate change, job opportunities and campaign finance are diddled with and fiddled away.

      So not only are most voters turned away from meaningful voting, they are also denied a law-making process that meaningfully deals with the increasingly stark problems of their society.

      The nasty secret is that the two major parties are no longer parties, but machines for career-climbing politicians and the ever more efficient marshalling of money, power, and patronage. Individual Democrats and Republicans, here and there, show courage and integrity but they are the exceptions that confirm the truth of this statement.

      Citizens have been leaving the two parties in droves. More than 50 percent of Maine registered voters are now unenrolled. It's a national trend. A rising number of people don't even both to register.

      Lamentations are everwhere. But think a minute. Instead of just assuming that people are dumb or just plain lazy, why not give them credit for smelling rot? Non-voting is surely a symptom, but of what? Maybe people know something the lamenters don't know or want to see.

      The response of the major parties has been to react in fear. They hang on to restrictive ballot access rules for dear life to thrwart new parties and new voices. They are wrecking our political system, ruining our democracy, buildng walls to shut people out.

      We need new parties, more experimental, more bold, more able to be like real parties. We need parties in the American tradition of coming forward in crisis times with new ideas, new coherent platforms that seek a new common ground, and new kinds of candidates who are accustomed to saying it like it is rather than in the doublespeak of politicians covering their behind. It's a tradition that goes back to parties sparked by Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, and the populists of the late 19th century. Each was born in a crisis time and became the vehicle of choice to deal with the crisis.

      So let's shift the focus and look at the picture in a different way. We see many new parties: the Green Party, the New Party, the Labor Party, the Reform Party, the Natural Law Party, the Libertarian Party, the Taxpayers Party. Just because they are ignored by most of the media most of the time doesn't mean that they don't exist or that they aren't making any headway.

      Why, I ask, don't the media look beyond the walls of the two major parties and give far more exposure to new parties? Don't patronize them or tell them how stupid they are or quaint or weak or marginal. Look at them in context. What they are doing is incredibly important. And very interesting. There is real competition going on among the third parties for reaching the American people. It's democracy in action, far more compelling and newsworthy than the stodgy fare served up by the major parties.

      Jesse Ventura of the Reform Party won a remarkable victory for governor last month in Minnesota, coming "out of nowhere". People voted in larger numbers than elsewhere because of his appeal as someone different than the established voices.

      Pat LaMarche raised serious and fundamental issues in her campaign for governor in Maine on behalf of the Green Party. She was listened to by scores of thousands of citizens. She got 7 percent of the vote. Bill Clarke got 3 percent as the Taxpayers Party candidate. That's 10%, done in the face of impossible odds.

      When 10 percent of the shareholders of a corporation call for change in corporate policy, it is taken seriously. In the political realm, 10 percent is dismissed as marginal. Why?

      LaMarche's vote translates into official party status for the Greens. the party's two candidates for the state legislature in Portland, Betsey Marsano and Ben Meiklejohn, each got 27 percent their first time out, Meiklejohn coming in ahead of the Republican in a three-way race. The Maine Green Party continues to demonstrate a durability and credibility that is a solid basis for growth in the years ahead. This is also happening in many other states where Green Parties have taken root.

      But also consider this bit of irony: LaMarche's 7 percent is the same as that garnered by the Green Party in Germany earlier this fall. But in Germany, a 7 percent vote translated into a junior partnership for the Green Party in the German government. In negotiations with their senior partner, the Social Democratic Party, the Greens received three out of 14 cabinet posts, including that of foreign minister.

      The reason for this is that Germany's system, as is true in almost all democracies in the world, invites a variety of parties to participate meaningfully in politics. You have to get at least 5 percent to qualify; but if you do, then 7 percent of the votes gets you 7 percent of the seats in parliament; 20 percent of the vote gets you 20 percent of the seats, and so forth.

      No wonder that there is no problem of non-voting in the countries that have this fair and open system: 70, 80, even 90 percent of the voting population goes to the polls! Are the people there smarter, more public-spirited, less lazy, more on the ball than Americans? Hardly likely. The problem is right here with our closed political system and our closed-minded media.

      Hello Democrats, Republicans, pundits, prophets, professors and news gatherers! There's new stirrings in the body politic. Give them room. Let's be true to the real spirit of this country. Let competititon and choice prevail in our politics!

[John Rensenbrink is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Government at Bowdoin College and is co-founder of the Maine Green Party.]