Fixing America - A Proposed Five Party Approach Part I

I have often written about my belief that America’s two-party system is broken. I believe that the interests of democracy are not best served when two parties are left to battle amongst each other in partisan struggle. Whatever you think of my intellect and moral right to complain about the system, it is hard to argue with the Father of the Nation. In his 1796 Farewell Address, taking the form of a letter to his fellow Americans, George Washington wrote the following words:

“All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion…

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.”

Less eloquently stated, Washington's Farewell Address is a call to the nation to avoid partisan politics as his belief was that creating factions would create rifts in the fabric of the nation. It is the wise man indeed whose prescient wisdom is relevant (if not followed) many generations after he has passed. However, despite Washington's forewarnings, America has indeed slipped into just the state of partisan struggle he advocated against.

My solution? Make it easier for alternatives to emerge. I think we have crossed the Rubicon with respect to having parties, but ease the stranglehold the current two parties in power have over just about everything - including their ability decide their own fates. Over the next few days, I plan to publish a few posts on this issue, covering one potential, workable structure tomorrow and what I believe would result from it the next day. As always, I appreciate feedback and thoughts in the comments section below.