American democracy” has always been more myth than reality. The Founders were notoriously afraid of the masses and created systems like the Senate and the Electoral College to constrain their power. These systems have hardly evolved in the last couple of centuries, with some arguing that if the United States were to apply for entrance into the European Union today, the European Court of Justice would deny the application on the basis of these institutions.
Thought experiments aside, look no further than the 2024 presidential election to witness the embodiment of everything wrong with American politics. President Joe Biden, who promised donors that “Nothing will fundamentally change” in 2019, is now working to convince Americans that only he can lead us into the bright future of tomorrow. Despite historic levels of unpopularity, uncertainty surrounding his mental capability, and growing concerns from even the most loyal of pundits, the Party has decided to fully embrace Biden while doing everything in its power to ostracize the few competitors who’ve dared question him.
Then there’s Donald Trump, the former president who now has criminal charges against him on account of hush money payments to a porn star. From funding a genocidal war in Yemen to claiming that Democrats want to change the name of Pennsylvania, his policies and positions have ranged from the inhumane to the idiotic. While it’s fun to see a modicum of accountability come out of his recent legal troubles, hush money payments are the smallest of his crimes.
The two candidates, their policies, and the parties they represent showcase a grim reality, particularly as they remain united in funding the ongoing genocide in Gaza, despite majority support for a ceasefire.
The past several years have made it clear that pressure from within the current framework won’t give us anything more than empty promises. Instead, we need to support well-organized grassroots movements to create real and lasting electoral change.
Is Three a Crowd?
Far from just offering the option for a protest vote, third parties have a richer history in the United States than many Americans realize. In 1920, Eugene V. Debs received one million votes as a Socialist candidate in the presidential election. Notably, Debs was imprisoned at the time on account of an anti-war speech he gave a couple of years prior. Nevertheless, his message resonated with enough people to garner 3.4% of the popular vote.
Before that, the 19th century, as a whole, was full of third parties, many of which sprang up to support specific political positions. The Greenback Party, for example, championed the antitrust movement and sent fifteen people to Congress in 1878. Similarly, the Free Soil Party formed to stop the spread of slavery to the Western territories in the 1840s. While many of these parties dissipated shortly after their conception, their impact and legacy remain.
That said, structural barriers have always existed and remain today. Most notably, the U.S. political system operates with a winner-takes-all mentality, meaning that unless a candidate wins an outright majority of votes, they win nothing with regard to representation. This framework has led liberals, in particular, to decry third-party challengers as spoiler candidates.
Similar barriers extend to third-party ballot access. For example, despite running on a platform that features Medicare for All, a Ceasefire in Gaza, and numerous other popular positions, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has had to overcome various bureaucratic and financial barriers to even appear on state ballots in this election. Having survived many of these obstacles, Stein (and other third party candidates) are now up against a well-oiled machine – one that has the resources to hire a “Third Party Project Manager” to allegedly infiltrate and hamper third-party efficacy.
Multi-Partyism and Proportional Representation
Like many aspects of the United States, our notoriously corrupt duopoly is unique among advanced democracies. Most feature multi-party systems that force political parties to work together. Building coalitions, allocating cabinet positions, and receiving endorsements from other players are all requirements for getting into office. A centrist leader, for example, may need to concede to left positions on labor and healthcare if they hope to receive sufficient support. Such a system encourages progress through camaraderie while discouraging polarization.
Proportional representation is another element common in other governments. In such systems, multiple representatives are elected from each district, proportional to the percentage of votes the party receives. This gives smaller political parties the ability to challenge larger ones during election season, putting them in positions to influence policy once elected.
Both multi-partyism and proportional representation contrast sharply with the U.S. duopoly, where voters often end up having to choose between a corrupt Democrat and a corrupt Republican. Besides preventing even modest pieces of legislation from passing, our system has led to record-low levels of faith in elected officials. Is it really surprising that “outside” candidates like Donald Trump (who ironically is one of the most corrupt politicians of all time) have, therefore, been able to garner so much support?
Reject the Binary
There’s a level of complacency palpable among most politicians these days. While Americans live paycheck to paycheck, watch the planet burn, and ask why we need to choose between two horrible presidential candidates, politicians smugly tell us to “Get over it.” When Americans question the moral implications of our taxpayer dollars going towards genocide, we’re told that the situation is more complex than we realize. Time and time again, politicians respond to genuine concerns with smugness and disdain, while begging people to continue supporting them (financially, above anything else). Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking these people care enough to get us out of these disasters. After all, they’re the ones who’ve brought us into them!
To create an actual democracy, we need to be clear on the many flaws of our current system. There shouldn’t be parts of the country without representation in the U.S. government. Candidates shouldn’t need to spend an average of two billion dollars to be president. Lobbying groups and wealthy individuals shouldn’t have undue influence over the system. And Americans should understand that other countries don’t operate with a broken binary political system, and we shouldn’t need to either.
I try not to judge people for how they vote, as it should only comprise a small part of civic duty. In addition to visiting a voting booth every couple of years, we need to work to overhaul our electoral systems. Proportional representation is something worth fighting for, as is expanding the power of third parties. Whether it means phone banking for an Independent or Green candidate or joining a local organization like the DSA, there are many things to be done in the short-term. Long term, our mission needs to involve ending the role money plays in politics and reforming our governmental institutions on a foundational level.
No easy task, to be sure. But if there’s one thing these past few years have shown, it’s that we need grassroots activism to get us out of this mess. Those at the top certainly aren’t interested in doing it for us.
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