(http://www.politico.com/) If the parties won't solve problems By: Mark McKinnon October 12, 2011 02:04 PM EDT Support for the two major political parties in America is hemorrhaging. It’ s not hard to see why. The politerati point to the 1992 presidential campaign as the last time public dissatisfaction with the political environment was so pervasive that a disruption to the status quo was even possible. Third-party independent candidate Ross Perot briefly led incumbent President George H.W. Bush and challenger Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. If he had maintained credibility, Perot might well have won. But discontent today is far deeper. In 1992, just 39 percent of the public was dissatisfied with government. Today, a record high 81 percent is dissatisfied. Satisfaction has plummeted from 59 percent to just 19 percent. We are in uncharted waters. If we were ripe for disruption in 1992, today most Americans must be damn close to grabbing their pitchforks and storming the barricades of the nation ’s capital. King George was more beloved. This thirst for dramatic change isn’t just Republican voters unhappy with the Obama administration’s policies. Democratic guru James Carville told CNN ’s Erin Burnett last week: “There is a real yearning for something different in this country. It is going to produce something, I have no idea what, but something is coming here, I promise you.” What accounts for this dramatic shift? Obviously, there is deep concern about a terrible economy and long, costly foreign conflicts. But there is something more dangerous: a fundamental breakdown in trust in government. We send our representatives to Washington to fix problems. Yet every day offers examples of opportunities lost. We’ve gone from statesmanship to brinksmanship. Compromise means victory for the opposing party. Consensus means the loss of political leverage. And scoring political points seems more important than progress on policy. Americans now have largely negative views of both parties. The public sees little difference between the effectiveness of either party when it comes to tackling the economy. And only 9 percent of likely voters rate Congress’ performance as good or excellent. Republicans in Congress refuse tax increases, labeling them job-killing. (It’s hard to negotiate when you’ve signed a pledge, as most Republicans and a few Democrats have, binding you to no new taxes and linking subsidy elimination to rate decreases.) Democrats refuse spending cuts, also labeling them job-killing. Yet, by a 2-to-1 margin, Americans support doing both, increasing taxes and cutting spending. [ BF emphasis added ] Unable to negotiate the policy changes necessary to avert the next financial crisis, Congress has deferred responsibility to a supercommittee. If an agreement is not reached there, automatic and dramatic across-the-board cuts kick in. The public is not hopeful: 74 percent think the committee will not reach agreement. Voters feel increasingly disenfranchised. No party represents them. Fringe groups with microphones dominate the conversation. Super PACs with unlimited funding exert unlimited influence. Powerful political advocacy groups skirt disclosure rules. I helped co-found No Labels to fight back against the hyper-partisanship and special interests now holding the system hostage. What we hear from voters is they want members of Congress to put their labels aside — and work together. Often it’s not policy outcomes that are problematic — the very nature of the debate is contributing to the loss of confidence. [ BF emphasis added ] The debt-ceiling debate caused the consumer confidence index to collapse to its fourth lowest level since first measured in 1952, according to the pollster Bill McInturf,. The index today sits at 55. That’s more than 20 points below the average when a sitting president loses reelection. The debt-ceiling debate was just one in the seemingly never-ending examples of the parties’ inability to forge consensus on anything — from contentious stimulus spending and health care reforms, to simple continuing budget resolutions. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), by triggering the “ nuclear option” in the Senate this week to block GOP amendments, only escalated the party standoff. If the Republicans and Democrats in Washington cannot set aside their party loyalty, then the people are most likely to declare their independence again. Almost a third of voters today do not affiliate with either party, and 55 percent of Americans say a third party is needed. Skeptics cite all the usual reasons why a third-party or alternative nominating process won’t work. But it’s mostly just pattern recognition. It’s the same reason they said we’d never elect an African-American president. Because we hadn’t, they said we wouldn’t. These are different times. I don’t know how it’s going to happen. It could be the Americans Elect platform, or it could be in a self-funded independent candidacy, or a tea party candidate. But, I’m with Carville on this one: Something is coming. Mark McKinnon, a co-founder of No Labels, a trans-partisan organization, is a Republican strategist who served as chief media adviser for George W. Bush and John McCain.
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