How to overcome the electoral conundrum in the United States 2023
According to Gallup, 40% of registered voters do not identify as Democrats or Republicans, but they cannot express their deepest political beliefs in electoral politics without voting for Democrats and Republicans.w
Not voting solves nothing. Not voting is a weak form of expression. If you favor one party, not voting will prevent you from supporting a candidate who shares some of your values. Voting for a third-party or independent candidate is OK, but the odds of winning are low.
The issue must be tackled head-on. But how? How to overcome dandelion solutions? Wisdom implies there is no single remedy, just as there are many ways to remove dandelions’ roots. A shovel, chemicals, explosives, or explosion can get them all.
Solving American electoral politics begins here. We should not aspire to be Newtonian geniuses who discover the laws of motion or Einsteinians who uproot them and redefine mass, energy, and motion.
What can be done if the challenge is initially limited?
One method focuses on one state’s elections, congressional elections, or presidential politics. Don’t try to fix the system.
Change agents should focus on independent candidates rather than third parties. Most Americans and political scientists and sociologists reject third parties. Independence is unique. Sanders, King, and Sinema are independent senators.
That’s substantial. They’re also different independents. Sanders is a democratic socialist, King a New England moderate, and Sinema a creative, hard-to-pin-down new centrist. Thus, more independent candidates who represent non-Democratic or Republican interests may be needed to break the two-party monopoly.
Independents win more, therefore more run.
Whether an independent wins mayor, governor, or president. Change might take five to 10 years. This technique does not strive to uproot dandelions in 50 states in one election. It pulls some roots.
The most ambitious way is to run for president as an independent and force Washington’s two parties to cooperate. 270 electoral votes are enough to achieve this without a majority. Lincoln, Wilson, and Clinton received 40% of the popular vote and electoral votes.
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Georgia might implement the independent plan. States that wanted to overthrow the two-party system may do so ideologically. Minnesota may elect an independent governor like Jesse Ventura in 1999.
We need a Declaration of Independents by 2026, the 250th anniversary of the US. Independents may flood the midterm elections with this Declaration.