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The Problem &
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The Principle of Minority Power

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The Two-Party Problem
The Three-Party Solution

In Brief: Any majority party has too much power, and a single minority party has little choice but to employ damaging tactics to protect its agenda. The solution is to have three or more viable political parties—with no one of them holding majority power.
Click to read about The Principle of Minority Power

The Problem:
Congress has been dominated by two parties for almost all of our history, and that situation has created countless difficulties in governance. The damage done in recent years by party conflict is perhaps greater than at other times in history. Anyone bothering to read these words is surely all too familiar with the deep cultural and political divisions we experience today, and those divisions exacerbate the long-standing problems of two-party government.

To summarize the problem: The majority party, whichever party it is, has too much power, and the minority party has little choice but to employ damaging tactics to protect itself and its agenda from the majority's power.

Majority Party Congressional Committees:
There are many manifestations of this basic problem, but two of the most important are how committees are used, and how rules and procedures are implemented. Congressional business passes through committees before it comes before the full House or Senate for action. Committees are crucially important, and powerful almost without limit. And, the majority party controls committees absolutely—they choose the chairperson of every committee, and they have a majority of members on each committee. So, they have the power, in every committee, to win every procedural vote, and every vote on substance. The minority party is left virtually impotent.

House and Senate Majorities
In the full House and full Senate, a similar situation exists. The majority party selects the leadership of each house, by definition has a majority of the members, and therefore has the power to win all procedural votes, except those that require a super-majority—two-thirds or three fourths of the members.

When the Majority holds Congress and the Presidency:
When one party holds the presidency and controls both houses of Congress, the system of checks and balances envisioned in the Constitution breaks down—the majority party rules virtually without constraint. This situation is not what the framers of the Constitution intended for our nation. They deliberately avoided establishing parties in that document, and some of them hoped to avoid parties altogether in the new government. It didn't work out so well; the first parties formed almost before the constitutional ink was dry.

The Role of Constituencies:
Another part of the problem has to do with constituencies. In the current two-party system, constituencies choose parties. In other words, if some group wants to achieve political action, its usual method is to pick one of the parties, begin participating in that party at the state and local levels, and begin contributing money and time to the party. Then, they demand that party's support for their agenda. If they're big enough and rich enough, they usually get it. The two-party system is a zero-sum game. If one party loses a constituency, the other wins it. When the power of the two parties is nearly evenly divided, they can't afford to say no.

The Solution:
More complex solutions may be possible, but the simplest is to prevent any party from holding a majority of the seats in the two houses of Congress. The only way that works is for there to be three or more parties (and perhaps some independent Senators and Representatives), and for each of the parties to hold less than fifty percent of the seats. In that situation, no committee can be formed without agreement of at least two of the parties. No procedural decision can be made without two parties. And no bill can pass unless it receives votes from members of at least two of the parties. Consensus becomes necessary for all action.

If there are more than two parties, the possibility exists, though it certainly isn't guaranteed, that parties can choose their constituencies. If a party doesn't want to be controlled by a special interest group, they can just say no—especially when they know they can't win a majority, even with the support of that group.

If no party has a majority, all parties have power enough to be legitimate participants in governance—but no party has the power to dominate the others. The potential for positive change in the governance of our nation is profound.

Click to:
Read about The Principle of Minority Power

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The political saga of the past two years has brought many changes, across the polical spectrum.

It has not, however, changed the fundamental principles expressed on these pages.

A major revision of these pages is needed, to add content, and to update specific references to parties, events, etc.

While that revision proceeds, please read the information posted here for its fundamental ideas and principles.

As always, your comments are welcome: partyiii@greatreality.com