Is California's two-party system reaching its expiration date?
Tom Campbell, former Bay Area Congressman and State Senator, is chair of the nascent Common Sense Party, and below explores the vibrant center left wide open by our current two party system, and how increasing numbers of people are looking for a Third Way.
The two major parties in California have gone to their extremes. The Democratic Party holds more than two-thirds of both the California Assembly and the State Senate. That gives them the power to raise taxes and to put state constitutional amendments on the ballot without having to obtain a single voter’s signature.
The Republicans in the Legislature used to exercise some check on the dominant party; but having fallen below one-third, they are now irrelevant. Republican Party leaders have only themselves to blame for this. Over the last 10 years, Republican registration has dropped from 31 percent to 23 percent in our state.
Republican leaders have insisted on orthodox adherence to the stands of the national Republican Party, which itself has shifted sharply to the social right and has abandoned its previous record of fiscal responsibility. This was true before President Trump, but the trend has accelerated under him.
Unchecked by another political force, the leaders of the California Democratic Party have lurched dramatically to the left. They have attacked the gig economy (not just Uber and Lyft drivers, but translators, newspaper and goods delivery drivers and free-lance professionals of every kind) in service to the unions who reliably provide Democrats with money and votes.
They have put a measure on the ballot to allow taxes to rise on inherited residential property above a certain value. They have increased gasoline taxes relentlessly. Like the Republicans, the Democrats have insisted on orthodoxy. For instance, a Democrat who even asks whether the harm from keeping children out of school due to COVID-19 might outweigh the risk of virus spread is ostracized from this increasingly dogmatic party. Democratic candidates must embrace a package of positions — in its entirety.
Most Californians are dismayed by the two major parties’ movement to their extremes. The Public Policy Institute of California reports that 55 percent of adult Californians believe a third party is needed in our state. Independents felt that way by 75 percent; Democrats by 56 percent, Republicans by 53 percent. California allows 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote: the Secretary of State’s Office reports 52 percent of them are choosing “no party preference,” while 32 percent favor the Democrats and 10 percent the Republicans.
And more about the Common Sense Party here.
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