Breaking Free of the Two-Party System, Part 2: Solutions

By Kyle Roberts

This is part two of a two-part series.

Read Part 1 here.

There are two fundamental reasons why this system has so much power:

1. The parties are intimately connected with government operation of elections—from filling vacancies, to making appointments, to placing candidates on the ballot, and controlling the choices of electors for president in the Electoral College, etc.
2. The electoral system naturally supports and gravitates towards a two-party structure and we the people continue to give unyielding support to that system and to the two dominant parties.

The first reason is completely adverse to free government, and the second is largely a result of the first.

Parties were never intended to have anything to do with the operations of government and their lasting power is a direct result of this relationship.

Freedom not only requires a separation of churches from government operations but also a separation of parties and the state.

Multiple factions, or parties, are critical to a healthy and free society. The more groups there are the more choices there are and the less at risk our rights are from being violated by a powerful, organized majority.

The Founding Fathers understood that party spirit is essential to freedom, but they also understood the absolute necessity of controlling the potential sinister effects a super powerful party can have on freedom.

The best way to do that is to prevent them from having undue influence within the government, and to have lots and lots of factions. They understood that the more choices there were, the more free the people would be.

By contrast, the further limited our choices are the less free we are.

Possible Alternative Model

Today we have been limited to only one choice. For, as pointed out above, it has not mattered whether the Democrats or Republicans are in power, both have taken us down the same unaltered course for the last 150 years.

The Declaration of Independence declares that “…a long train of abuses, pursuing invariably the same object” proves a design that is adverse to freedom. In practice, neither the Democrat nor Republican parties understand or promote true freedom.

We need more parties. We need more factions. We need an open, honest public discussion and hearing for the best qualified candidates.

No more playing favorites and deliberately neglecting other options. We need to divorce the power of parties from the government and the media.

Here are some points of what a possible alternative model could look like.

First, and most important, amend state codes so that there is no relationship whatsoever between the government and any group, club, party, organization, business, etc.

Second, eliminate the winner-takes-all method for presidential elections.

Allow electors to be chosen in an impartial manner and enable them to select, of their own agency, the best two choices for President and Vice President.

Third, for the election of federal senators, since the state legislature cannot do it as originally intended.

Modify the current convention system by requiring civic precincts, instead of party caucuses, to select a delegate(s).

The delegate (or delegates) will then meet at a state-wide convention the purpose of which would be to actually select the next senator, or narrow the field to the top two, and then send that choice back to the people at a general election.

Senators were never intended to be elected by the people directly, yet this model would still involve the people in order to comply with the 17th amendment tradition, but would refine the choice through a full state convention of delegates.

Fourth, diversifying the political party climate by altering the model in a way that encourages competition between multiple parties without naturally propping up two of them.

As close as practicable gives them equal opportunity to obtain votes or obtain seats in government offices.

Straight majority vote by the electorate may not be the best model for securing liberty and discouraging a two party centrist system.

We must also have the courage to step away from the traditional parties and create more in order to facilitate the alteration of the model, or simply not join any.

If only these four points were implemented we would see a drastic change in our political climate. The people would have much more breathing room and a better opportunity to select candidates of quality instead of electability.

We would see less intrigue in our election processes and more power diffused over the populace rather than concentrated in the hands of a few.

We must change the way we think about voting and elections.

The current system and the principles of good government are wholly incompatible. They are adverse to freedom and our unalienable rights.

If we want different results than those we have been getting we must change the model that has produced those results.

Freeing ourselves from the dominant, factious party stranglehold is the best thing that can be done, right now, for America and the future of freedom.

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Kyle Roberts is a small business owner who has committed his life to the cause of freedom. He is dedicated to recreating strong local self-government in his community by creating, and helping others create, institutions that create and preserve freedom.

He teaches a four-part lecture series on the Original Understanding of the Constitution for free to the community.

Kyle lives in Spanish Fork, Utah with his wife Kim and two children.

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