Third Party Voting and the "Lesser of Two Evils"
Let’s talk about this statement. If our country is so far gone into the depths of corrupt, inhumane capitalism, what difference would a “better” president possibly make? After all, they’re all just figureheads, aren’t they?
Arguments against the two-party system are old, and complaints come from both sides. There is rampant corruption in our political system, as politicians are often obliged to please stakeholders at the expense of constituents. But why, then, do we only really have this on our radar every four years?
The psychological concept of splitting, as developed by Ronald Fairbairn, seeks to explain the human tendency to lay blame. The concept is that a subject will take aspects of reality that they cannot accept as two parts of a whole, and separate them from each other into black and white, good and bad. It’s notable that the two-party system and its us-vs-them mentality fits this mold neatly, and it might explain why the blame habit is so incredibly difficult for us to break with in politics. Consider this: aside from laying blame for their candidate's loss, it is unusual for Democrats or Republicans to blame their discontent on the Green party. It doesn't stack up, so we often dismiss third parties entirely. This block often keeps us from seeing the shortcomings of the dominant parties and of the system as a whole. So outside of presidential elections, many slip back into this way of thinking.
Elected politicians do not win by magic. Politicians win elections through a process of using their work experience or clout to rub elbows with influencers and people in power, gaining capital through their donations and/or their influence on the public, and financing the campaigns that market their platforms to voters. Third party candidates face greater challenges, because they do not get donations or endorsements from the corporations and stakeholders that benefit from our current system, and do not have the benefit of having members of their party in higher places who can appoint them to offices to further their careers. If we really want to see change, what we can do as voters is organize grassroots efforts to get third party candidates with less capital into low-level offices, and stick with them as they play the game. There are lots of ways to get involved, but this needs to happen before taking on the White House.
In other words, the time to work for this cause is any time except now. A quick web search on the topic returns a plethora of credible articles from sources like The New Yorker, ABC Australia and Boston University on the real possibility of another civil war in the near future, should we continue on with Trump erratically dismantling our infrastructure, rolling back environmental protection efforts, deploying troops to terrorize the public, and so on.
I’ve heard the frustrated voices of folks who work on these issues year round saying that we don’t need to vote for the lesser of two evils.
I personally can’t think of any time it’s ever been more appropriate.
Written by Tony Kane
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