Here’s How We Beat The Two-Party System

The duopoly’s electoral overreach presents moderates with an opportunity

According to the most recent Cook Political Report, only thirty-three out of 435 U.S. House races are considered “toss-ups” in this year’s mid-term elections. In contrast, 350 races are considered “not competitive” because one party or the other has such an advantage. The remainder are considered “competitive,” but one party still has a substantial advantage.

Such a huge predominance of safe districts has several deleterious consequences. For one thing, it shifts any real competition from the general election to the primaries. But primary voters tend to be more extreme. Which means the candidates ultimately selected to run in the general election are also more extreme.

It may also send the message to moderates and independents that their votes don’t matter. Just as the more extreme base of each party feels more and more motivated to participate in the process, the middle is less motivated than ever. And as the middle gets hollowed out, our overall political landscape gets more and more polarized.

Here’s where my idea comes in. I call it the Consensus Party. This is not a traditional third party. I’m not envisioning that Consensus Party candidates would run against Democrats and Republicans in every House race. On the contrary, Consensus Party candidates would target only those “safe” districts (and maybe some “lean” districts as well) by pitching their candidates to the party that would otherwise have no hope of winning.

Why would either of the two major parties be interested in adopting a Consensus Party member as their candidate? Because our pitch to voters is that we only take a position on an issue if at least sixty percent of American adults agree with it. Hence, we represent the consensus on the issue.

Psychologists have long known that people tend to want to conform to the majority viewpoint. It’s called the “bandwagon effect.” Now, that kind of conformity isn’t always a good thing, to be sure. But sometimes it can be. Right now a minority of extremists have hijacked our political system, and it would be great if a bandwagon of sorts could crash through their duopoly and the gridlock it’s caused.

But in order to do that, we have to break through the tribalism that’s been caused, not just by gerrymandering, but also by media balkanization and the self-sorting of voters in states and districts where they can live side-by-side with like-minded people. All of these things have made it possible even for people with fairly extreme views to think of themselves as “moderate.” Meanwhile, actual moderates, of whom there are still quite a few, feel increasingly politically homeless.

Think about it this way. Imagine you are a Democrat in Missouri or a Republican in Maryland. Your views on a number of issues may not actually be that far from many of the voters in your district, but in our polarized political climate, your party’s brand is shit. You’d like to be able to reach voters without the (D) or the (R) next to your name immediately turning them off.

That’s where the Consensus Party comes in. We state right off the bat that our goal is not to push any agenda other than the one favored by a supermajority of Americans. We back up our party planks with citations to recent years’ polling data and promise simply to enact what most of us want. We speak directly to everyone who is, or believes they want to be, part of that forgotten middle of American politics.

Over time, the idea is to grow what we would call the Consensus Caucus in the U.S. Congress. Because it would field candidates to run in place of both Democrats and Republicans, the Consensus Caucus would contain people who have signed up to work with anyone, regardless of their views on more divisive issues, so long as they share the goal of promoting the consensus view.

So where would the Consensus Party land on major issues? Let’s take a few examples:

Abortion

According to recent polling data, roughly sixty percent of Americans support a right to abortion up to the end of the first trimester (about fourteen weeks). They also support a right to abortion in cases of rape, incest, severe fetal deformity, or danger to the life or health of the mother. However, when one of these exceptional situations does not apply, a supermajority of Americans does not approve of abortion after the end of the first trimester.

Gun Safety

According to recent polling data, all of the following policies have the backing of at least sixty percent of Americans:

• Mental health screening for all gun purchases.
• Universal background checks.
• Requiring a permit for concealed carry.
• Red flag laws (both police- and family-initiated).
• Banning high-capacity magazines.
• Banning assault weapons.

Indeed, with the exception of banning high-capacity magazines and assault weapons, all of the above policies enjoy the support of at least sixty percent of Republicans!

Immigration

Supermajorities of Americans believe more should be done to restrict illegal border crossings and overstays. Two policies that enjoy very wide support are increasing funding and resources for border protection, and requiring employers to use the federal government’s E-verify system to prevent them from hiring undocumented workers.

But supermajorities are also in favor of creating a path for law-abiding immigrants to attain citizenship. They also favor welcoming refugees from parts of the world that have been devastated by war, famine, and violence.

Social Safety Net

Supermajorities of Americans favor adding a public option to Obamacare. They also favor giving new mothers and fathers paid parental leave.

Taxes

There is clear supermajority support for raising taxes on the wealthy and some corporations, and for simplifying the tax code through the elimination of deductions and credits introduced by industry lobbyists over the years.

Obviously, the above list isn’t exhaustive. The point of the Consensus Party is to find out what people really want and then promise to do just that, regardless of previous ideological commitments.

If it looks like the Consensus Party leans left, all that’s telling us is that the left’s view on many issues is actually quite popular, but that the structure of our system prevents it from being enacted. But it’s not just conservatives who will have to give ground to be part of the Consensus Party. Liberals and progressives will need to moderate their stances on issues like abortion, health care, and immigration.

At the end of the day, though, the point is to keep hammering home the message that the Consensus Party represents most of us. By repeating that message over and over, the goal is to create a bandwagon effect that will usher in a new generation of lawmakers capable of making real progress.