At 12:39 AM 6/7/2005, Russ Paielli wrote:
On the other hand, around election time I still seem to hear a lot of moaning by Libertarians and Greens about being ignored by the media and being shut out of the debates -- as if the problem would go away if the media started giving them equal coverage with the major parties. I think that indicates a fundamental lack of understanding of the real problem they face.
That's a reasonable explanation, at least.... I think minor parties should focus on developing structure for the party, and should attempt to make strategic decisions *as a party*. Thus the party itself would only recommend voting for its own candidates, if it ran candidates at all, under two conditions: (1) the party had a reasonable chance of winning, and failing to win, it is at all close, would not result in a setback for the party's agenda, or (2) if an individual member simply could not in conscience vote for the party's recommendation.
Parties could easily find other ways to show party strength and to collect funds than by gathering a few votes in an election, perhaps at great social cost. For example: the party asks and makes it easy for members to send a small donation, perhaps $2, or whatever amount the member cared to contribute, to a fund dedicated for the purpose of demonstrating voting power, if and only if they voted according to the recommendation of the party because of that recommendation. An independent method would exist for people to simply register the fact of voting by recommendation, but the donation method would be far more credible. And if you can show you have voting power, you can start to move the major parties. If major parties don't cooperate in a reasonable way, then next time the election is not crystal clear, the next time it is closer to Tweedledum and Tweedledee, i.e., two moderates are facing off, the party might well withdraw its recommendation for a major party candidate and run their own.
I'm claiming that independent voter organizations could essentially take control of the process by bypassing it, by organizing and acting independently from existing structures. A minor party could do the same, really. Indeed, the Green party in the U.S. does allow, with some state parties, proxy voting at conventions. It is thus closer to FA/DP than any party which does not allow this. But it doesn't have the full-blown structure in place, proxy is only considered as a representation method, when it could actually become a deliberation method, where overall strategic decisions could be made and would have real clout, because they were developed within a process which includes board and efficient input and consideration, and that is designed to foster trust in the recommendations. When you don't just read about the party's decisions in the newspaper or get a piece of mass mail, but actually get a phone call from your personal representative to the party, someone you know and whom you chose directly, encouraging you to follow the recommendation (assuming that your proxy does agree with it, which, if the process is done correctly, most will), you will start to see great loyalty to "party discipline," because it will be truly free and voluntary and will have fully considered dissent, incorporating it to the maximum extent possible.
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