Photo Credit: K a P p Y || At this rate, maybe we should legitimize selling votes, after all money controls the system
Eight years ago I wrote the post NOTA Bene. I felt then, and still feel now that the duopoly of the Republicans and Democrats is harming the US, and is leading to polarization of politics. Invoking the Founding Fathers, they did not want political parties. Let people stand on their own, and make their case to the public.
But no, the Republicans and Democrats make it hard for others to run against them. As such, we need NOTA, “None of the Above” to be a choice on our ballots. If NOTA wins, the election must be redone, and two months later, a new election is held where the prior losers (in every sense of the term) are forbidden from running.
Tonight I offer an enhancement to NOTA. There could be a type of NOTA where parties are not allowed to nominate candidates if NOTA wins. This would have the salient benefit that parties would nominate more centrist candidates in order to avoid a situation where they would have no one running in the second election, if NOTA were to win the first election.
Particularly in this Presidential election, where both both candidates are old, and incapable of any serious reasoning, NOTA is a choice that is far superior. We could clear away both Trump and Biden, and their parties as well. What could be simpler?
Let’s bring politics to the center, and eliminate the power of ideologues who gain power through the primary system. As NOTA ended tyranny in the Soviet Union, let it end dopeyness in America.
This is the only way to return power to the people. Which makes it almost impossible to happen.
A more practical solution might be a ranked-choice system similar to what Maine is using. It both encourages more diversity of political opinion and favors the moderates in winner-take-all races.
It doesn’t solve the problem of getting rid of extreme candidates, and/or their parties. Ranked-choice validates that those nominated by parties are the only candidates that should be considered.
David, it’s not a panacea, but ranked voting should help reduce the propensity of extremes. it allows third party party candidates or parties a fighting chance to be successful. Eventually one or more centrists parties will emerge, or the two existing parties will move back to the centre to try to prevent it.
This solution is also (slightly) more likely to be implemented than NOTA
To late this year for NOTA.
For now just vote Libertarian.
Enlarge the party create and
a ticket similar to Johnson/Weld.
Dan Crenshaw & Tulsi Gabbard 2028 ?
What is this “Center” you speak of? American politics has been dragged to the right since Reagan. To the point of a President encouraging militant far-right groups. To the point where we have a billionaire class that is always happy to demontrate just how far above the law they are. NOTA is a great idea. It acknowledges that “None of the above” has won the Presidential election since 2012.
We have, and have had for a long time, only one political party; albeit one with different wings. When my teenagers asked me what it means for a politician to be called “left” or “right” I said, “The Democrats have their hands in my left pocket and the Republicans have their hands in my right pocket and neither returns much of value.”
There have been NOTAs running for President. The reason we don’t hear much about them is that they do not have money, either their own or from backers. As the old saying goes, “Money is the mothers’ milk of politicians.”
The two most recent NOTAs were Perot and Trump, both successful businessmen. They had sufficient $$$ to get to a place where their ideas were heard. They appealed to a significant number of voters who were frustrated with “politics as normal”. And they were met with widespread derision. Feisty as he was, Perot was not accustomed to using bare-knuckle tactics in his business. Trump not only was used to it, he was/is good at it and fights back which is contrary to politics as usual.
You may consider Trump to be rude, crude, and obnoxious, but he fights back and does his dam*edest to keep his campaign promises. That is, he is definitely one of the NOTA. So…..be careful what you ask for, you might get it.
As always, just my (never very) humble opinion.