The Role of Third Parties

by
Dean Myerson

August, 2000

The Daily Camera has had a lot of letters recently commenting on the Green Party, its candidates, and its role as a third political party. Most of the comments have been about a specific candidate that is running under the Green Party banner. I'm going to lay out the more general case for third parties and their importance in this editorial.

The "spoiler" argument is the most common that by voting for a third party candidate, you will elect the "worse of the two evils" rather than the lesser of two evils. Leaving aside for the moment the issue of voting for an "evil" candidate meaning one that is just not quite as bad as the other, what is the impact of this kind of strategic voting, beyond the short-term impact in the specific election?

The first major long-run impact is to push voter turnout down. Hardcore political activists and officeholders are used to the political give-and-take that goes with operating inside a legislative body, and tend to want to convince voters to think the same way. But the dynamics of the ballot box are very different than the dynamics in city council or the state legislature. Telling people that they need to vote for someone who they don't really like or trust, or whose positions on the issues they have many disagreements with, feeds the cynicism in our democracy. That the election of Jesse Ventura had a much higher turnout than normal is proof that third party candidates can push turnout up.

Further, it undermines the democratic process. Voting is the one time most citizens take to express their opinion. While I wish they would express it much more often, many don't. If they don't vote for the candidate whose positions they most closely agree with, we never learn what voters really think. Strategic voting to avoiding spoiling attempts to convince voters to vote based on who they want to lose, not who they want to win, or what policies they think are best. This is not democracy in action.

Third parties have along history of being the engine of ideas in the United States. Many programs and polices now taken for granted were initiated by third parties. While I do not want the adoption of Green Party policies by a major political party to be our primary legacy, if that happens, our efforts will still have been justified. And by basing our strategy on a plan to become a major party, we will have the largest positive impact on policy.

And having our issues usurped is not necessarily the most likely result. Ongoing success by the Green Party in New Mexico has made the adoption of Instant Runoff Voting likely it missed passage in the New Mexico state Senate by only one vote last year. The Center for Voting and Democracy now describes how IRV may well be established in a number of states in the next couple of years. This system permits voters to rank candidates in order of preference: first, second, third, etc. Then their vote can transfer from their first choice (such as a third party candidate) to second preference to prevent spoiling. The gradual adoption of IRV around the country would make it practical for a third party that consistently gets a significant minority to play a constructive role in bringing new ideas to voters.

But for today, the greatest need for a third party comes from Americans deep-seated desire for serious reform in the financing of our elections and honesty in the running of campaigns. Third party candidates don't play electoral games playing one constituency off another, deciding which is less important for votes or money. They speak strongly to the issues and stand for a clear and consistent point of view.

And they can win, if only they get a chance. The experience of Jesse Ventura is enlightening. Both the Democratic and Republican candidate didn't take him seriously and permitted him into televised debates when he was at 12% in the polls. With that public exposure there was no stopping him. This demonstrates that the call of third party candidates to be allowed in debates is not self-delusion or egotism at work. When a third party candidate reaches a certain level of visibility and seriousness, public skepticism evaporates and we have a new political arena one with a fresh and honest voice, speaking to clearly stated concerns of voters and would-be voters.

The challenge here is for the public to tell those who run our elections to give all candidates a fair chance to make their case to the citizenry. Let them rise or fall on their own merits. And don't base your vote on fear induced by the self-serving arguments of a major party candidate. Just vote for the best candidate.

Coming out of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin answered a question regarding the structure of the new American government by saying, "It's a republic, if you can keep it." That's our job, if we will take it on. In the end, it is our cynicism that lets democracy whither.

Dean Myerson is a former Co-Chair of the Green Party of Colorado and is on the staff of Ralph Nader's campaign this year.