My small-government GOP friends tell me often that I should accept the reality that we live in a two-party system with plurality voting.
They miss the point.
I accept reality.
They, however, fail to see that reality can be changed. At one time, we were a group of colonies subject to a monarchy. That reality changed.
At one time, Blacks in this country were chattel. That reality changed.
At one time, women were not allowed to vote. That reality changed.
Most of my small government Republican friends will acknowledge that they, themselves, want to change reality. The reality is that Barack Obama is in the White House. They want to change that. So do I. But I also want to change the reality that, right now, the only alternative is a Big Government Republican.
I will listen to arguments that perhaps Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee or John McCain would be better than Obama. Those arguments, alas, miss the point. All of them, Obama, Romney, Huckabee and McCain want the federal government to tell you and me how to live.
I reject the proposition that any degree of state control over my sovereignty is acceptable. The argument that a Republican wants slightly less control than a Democrat over my life is meaningless. I will not give it to them: not voluntarily.
Americans should never accept state control over our personal lives. Not even from a Republican.
Reality is, our government controls us. We can change that reality.
Competition is always good. Always.
The more competitors, the more choice and the better off we all are. This applies to goods and services. It applies to public schools. And, yes, it applies to political candidates. More choice is never a bad thing. Ever.
When choice becomes a bad thing, there is something wrong with the system that creates that result.
Tom Tancredo is not the problem. Third parties are not the problem. Our two party election process, including plurality voting, is the problem. A two party duopoly, controlling and limiting the choices of every American citizen, is the problem.
If we want a better America, criticizing competition is misplaced.
Colorado Republican state chair Dick Wadhams called Tancredo’s plan to run for governor as the American Constitution Party candidate “reprehensible.” It is not. What is “reprehensible” is a system that gives the people of Colorado two really bad choices for governor. Anyone trying to solve that problem is not “reprehensible.” People defending the status quo are not “reprehensible” either, but they are horribly misguided.
Most people, even die hard political activists, act as if the two party system and plurality voting are some immutable law of nature, like gravity. Our election process is not a law of physics. It is not even a law of our Constitution.
It is a process that has simply evolved without any particular design, intelligent or otherwise. We can change it if we are willing to recognize the problem. Pretending that Tancredo and third parties are the problem is a bad diagnosis.
Our system is broken. While there is no panacea, there are ways to fix it.
Approval voting is one such fix.
