Rare News Desk
A record number of Americans identify as “independents.”
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The latest Gallup polling finds that 42 percent of Americans call themselves independents, which is the highest level on record. Those who identify as Republicans have fallen to just 25 percent and those calling themselves Democrats is steady at 31 percent.
This doesn’t represent a magic shift to the middle, nor does it mean third party candidates will instantly become viable alternatives. It simply shows that the Democratic and Republican parties are failing to reflect our values.
The End of the GOP?
The Republicans aren’t losing people because America is becoming more liberal. Republicans are losing people because they aren’t representing conservative principles of small government.
They are also losing people by letting the fringes of social conservatism define the party, rather than be mere voices amongst the collective who agree on the proper, limited role of government.
Thanks to years of big-government conservatism, the “Republican” label has become toxic. This has led to the rise of “anti-establishment” Republicans, many of whom are tea party candidates. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio — these are the people in Washington who are connecting with Americans.
Why? Because their conservative convictions come across as genuine and they are unwilling to accept the status quo. This should please independents who are otherwise down on the GOP.
No Principles
In the case of the Right, the Republican Party didn’t lose people by shifting to the right. It lost people by standing for nothing other than the personal political gain of those with an “R” next to their name.
In that vacuum, a relentless media filled the void and built a brand that hardly anyone would proudly want to be apart of.
It also allowed for extreme voices to echo throughout the country (Todd Akin) and define entire party policies.
Accurate or not, the perception perpetuated in the media made it difficult to even try to disprove a negative. It became too hard to even explain which part of the party represented you, if a part existed at all.
It became embarrassing and exhausting.
No Labels
Society is shifting away from big-label identification.
Take religion, for example, which has seen a dramatic rise in the “nones.” These are people who are unaffiliated with any organized religion, and they now represent one out of every five Americans. The good news is that they haven’t abandoned God, just organized religion.
The same parallel can be said for the political parties.
The “nones” of politics are the independents who no longer identify with an organized party. It’s not that they don’t believe in government, they simply do not believe the established parties accurately reflect their values.
In an age where everyone has a voice, an opinion and a Twitter account, the “me” generation no longer feels as though they need to be a part of something bigger in order to matter.
Stuck With Two Parties
Unfortunately, we are stuck with two parties. This isn’t because movements like the tea party lack momentum, but more because of the design of our republic lends itself to a two-party nation.
In the United States, most elections are won in a “first-past-the-post” system. This means that the candidates with the most votes wins it all.
Compare this to a proportional representation system where a party could win just 10 percent of the vote and then be awarded 10 percent of the representation. In this case, candidates representing smaller parties are able to be a part of the political process, form coalitions and grow in popularity.
A winner-take-all approach naturally lends itself to two choices, with the bigger guys coming out on top. This principle is known as Duverger’s Law.
Unless we change our voting system, we are likely to be stuck with two big parties claiming their respective sides of the political spectrum.
Tea partiers have made the best case yet for claiming the right as their mantle, but it will be from within the Republican Party and not as an organized alternative.
All Hope Is Not Lost
The shift to “independent” is not a bad thing. It forces each side to clarify what it is they stand for. This is what we are currently seeing play-out on the Right and it has been a long time coming.
On Twitter, @daddygrace67 wanted to know if this will split the conservative vote in the next election. It will likely not split the vote, but force better candidates to the forefront; people will be more demanding of what they want out of conservative candidates. Republicans should fear apathetic voters more than Democrats.
It would be worse to allow the Republicans to continue on a path of big government than to challenge its conservative convictions at the risk of party in-fighting. In the long run, the principles will win out but it will be a painful process to get there.
People hate change. People with power hate it even more.
