A Proposal To Break the Two-Party System (continued)

By Elizabeth Fattah

This is not the first time that this has happened. In 2004 and 2006, Pennsylvania Democrats successfully challenged Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign and the Green Party candidate for the Senate Carl Romanelli. Nader and Romanelli are now obligated to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees to the Democrats. Nader and Romanelli have challenged this in the Pennsylvania courts.

Also in 2004, Ralph Nader was the target of an unprecedented legal attack in almost two dozen states with 29 legal actions brought, financed or instigated by the Democratic Party. The lawsuits, many of them frivolous, were brought to keep Ralph in court and not on the campaign stump.

Ballot access laws vary from one state to another and from year to year. Many states base the number of petition signatures to a percentage of voters in a previous state or federal election, usually around 2 per cent, sometimes up to 5. In some states it is a flat number of signatures needed. It can range from as small a number as 1,000 signatures to over 60,000.

The United States has been criticized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for its harsh ballot access laws. Republicans and Democrats control the state legislatures where ballot access laws are enacted. They are not going to give up the power to decide who runs for office. The US Congress is also controlled by the Democrats and Republicans, and they are not going to pass any ballot access laws that favor candidates outside those ruling parties.

Some years ago I was organizing a petition drive for the Nader 2000 presidential campaign. A gentleman came up to me and said, “We don’t want third parties.” I asked, “Why not?” He said, “We would loose control.”

That was 10 years ago, and little has changed. Third parties like the Greens or the Socialist parties that enter the arena of political campaigns should concentrate on local elections; school boards, townships, city or county elections. Here they would have a chance, since in many jurisdictions there is a more even playing field.

On a state and national level, third party advocates should campaign for boycotting elections. This does not mean quietly sitting out major elections, but actively organizing disgruntled voters who feel that they must vote for the “lesser of two evils,” explaining that Democrats have acquiesced to two wars, could not pass any meaningful healthcare bill, and have continued many of Bush’s policies, especially continuing the assassination abroad of Americans or anyone else they consider a threat by calling them “terrorists.”

This campaign would be focused on Democrats. If we were successful, it would give us a powerful hand to change ballot access laws. Democrats need the progressive community. Without us they could not possibly win the many elections that they do win. This would be a long-term struggle focusing not only on ballot access laws but on a radical progressive agenda. It would need a united left that would not succumb to fear tactics — the threat that if a Democrat does not win, the country will be taken over by ????. Name your favorite bogeymen or women.

Corporations rule this country through the two-party system. This is a proposal to break their control.