A Three Party System

July 2, 10:45 AMBergen County Independent ExaminerPaul Seitz

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You don’t have to be a politics watcher to become mesmerized by the events in the Republican Party over the last year.  Sparing the lurid details of the presidential race gone awry, of a tabloidesque vice presidential candidate, of a vice president who became a media darling, of a radio talk show host putting party officials in line and tawdry local and international affairs, let’s just say the events have really tried hard to make good content for flagging newspapers.

Dig a little deeper.  What we actually see is a fundamental shift of our nation’s third party, the Moderate/Independents.  Many pundits will place this party as center or in the middle of two extremes but this is a very simplistic explanation that portrays this group as undecided wafflers. Yet their convictions are tightly held and their voting bloc decides the course of our elections time and again.  This was the base of the Republican Party right up to the 1980’s. 

Since the 80’s and in the face of increasing confidence created by the union of the Christian right and the righteous Neocons, the moderates have been draining from the Republican Party; moving to either an Independent stance or to the Democrats.  Their views have decidedly remained unchanged; they are just looking for a house that is not falling apart at the seams. 

History tells us that the last time such a pronounced split occurred in the Republican Party was in a feud between Theordore Roosevelt and William Taft in 1912. Roosevelt, dissatisfied with the presidential primary results attempted to lead the progressives (similar to the moderate/independents today) in their own presidential bid under their own party.  The attempt failed and both republican factions lost to a more united and moderate Democrat Party under candidate Woodrow Wilson.

This may all seem like ancient history, but history is being re-enacted today.  In the 1912 election Republican Party leadership mandated Taft in a top down, irrevocable manner, expecting the moderate/independents to follow in lock step.  When they didn’t, the party’s presidential bid failed miserably. 

Today is no different.  Republican Party leaders have essentially split their base in two and cut the moderates loose.  Until this lesson is learned both in the context of historic and recent events, the party will continue to marginalize itself, ceasing to be a force of influence and becoming a force of loud mouths.