What Could a Multiparty America Look Like?

A vision for the future

Perhaps one of the greatest obstacles to the establishment of a multiparty America is the simple fact that most Americans can’t visualize the system working any other way. A clear vision of what a multiparty America could look like would help solidify a strategy for third parties to gain a seat at the table. Without a clear vision for how a multiparty system would work, it is impossible to formulate a viable strategy, and without a viable strategy, people have no motivation to support a dead-end party.

So today let’s look at what a multiparty America could look like practically.

The Qualifications for Success

When considering how a multiparty America would work, it is first necessary to examine which parties would be the most likely candidates for inclusion. At this point there are two major parties and a whole host of tiny third parties. When envisioning what a multiparty America would look like, we first need to take a look at which third parties have a chance to succeed on a large scale, and how they would interact with other parties.

There are three main qualifications for viability in a multiparty America:

1. The party must represent a distinct political ideology rather than a single variation on a “large tent party” ideology.

2. The party must have national scope and appeal, rather than being confined to one or two regions of the U.S..

3. The party must have the makings of a political movement rather than a passing trend, i.e. it must deal with more than a handful of specific interests or temporary issues.

The first qualification is necessary to avoid competing with larger parties of a similar ideology, the second qualification is necessary in order for the party to become established in the nation at large, and the third qualification is necessary to appeal to a distinct niche rather than simply feed off temporary whims and political winds and to gain long-term stability.

It’s important to note that just because one third party has gained more votes recently doesn’t necessarily make it more likely to succeed than another third party that has gained fewer votes. While votes are one factor in determining the success of a party, any third party that will be able to last long enough and grow large enough to be viable in a multiparty America will need to avoid direct competition with larger parties, tap into voters that do not fall under the umbrella of “Left” and “Right,” and grow beyond mere party strength into a movement that shapes the outlook of Americans-at-large.

Some third parties may be able to gain a large number of votes early on due to charismatic and well-known candidates and popularity among a specific niche, but unless the party gains the strength of a movement that transcends personality cults and tiny niche interests, it will never be able to grow beyond a certain, very small number of voters. This is why all three qualifications are important: they demonstrate how some third parties that gain lots of press coverage (e.g. the Green Party) are not likely to be viable in the long-term. So what can we learn from applying these principles to the existing third parties in the political arena?

Which Parties Meet the Qualifications?

Let’s begin with a list of the national parties which garnered more than 10,000 votes in the 2020 election (single-state parties are omitted upfront on the basis of qualification #3):

1. Democratic Party (81,284,778 votes)

2. Republican Party (74,224,501 votes)

3. Libertarian Party (1,865,917 votes)

4. Green Party (404,090 votes)

5. Working Families Party (386,010 votes)

6. Alliance Party (88,238 votes)

7. Party for Socialism and Liberation (85,488 votes)

8. American Independent Party (60,160 votes)

9. Constitution Party (60,066 votes)

10. Peace and Freedom Party (51,037 votes)

11. American Solidarity Party (40,365 votes)

12. Legal Marijuana Now Party (10,033 votes)

To begin with, let’s eliminate all parties from this list that violate principle #1, that is, those parties whose ideology is not distinct enough for them to draw supporters from the two main parties. Paleoconservatism (American Independent Party, Constitution Party) is perhaps best represented as a caucus within the broader “conservative” tent of the Republican party, so they can be safely eliminated. The same goes for Eco-Socialism (Green Party), Social Democracy (Working Families Party) and Socialism (Party for Socialism and Liberation, Peace and Freedom Party), which are best represented by caucuses within the “progressive” tent of the Democratic Party. Additionally, the Socialist parties have not as of yet been able to gain ballot access in multiple states, and are generally perceived as extremist by outsiders, violating principles #2 and #3. Thus they can be safely eliminated.

The list now stands as follows:

1. Democratic Party (81,284,778 votes)

2. Republican Party (74,224,501 votes)

3. Libertarian Party (1,865,917 votes)

4. Alliance Party (88,238 votes)

5. American Solidarity Party (40,365 votes)

6. Legal Marijuana Now Party (10,033 votes)

Moving onto issues #2 and #3, the Alliance Party exists primarily as a reactionary party to extremism, seeking to foster cooperation between Democrats and Republicans and oppose government corruption. While these are noble goals (one that Solidarians can appreciate), a party founded primarily on reactionary tendencies does not have the makings of a long-term political movement. The same applies to the Legal Marijuana Now Party, primarily confined to Minnesota and Nebraska, which is founded upon a single issue (marijuana legalization) and thus does not possess the qualities of a long-term viable third party.

After these eliminations, there remain four political parties that fit the qualifications of representing a distinct, non-overlapping ideology with potentially national appeal and the makings of a political movement. They are as follows:

1. Democratic Party (81,284,778 votes)

2. Republican Party (74,224,501 votes)

3. Libertarian Party (1,865,917 votes)

4. American Solidarity Party (40,365 votes)

Thus we have four political ideologies represented: Progressivism (by the Democratic Party), Conservatism (by the Republican Party), Libertarianism (by the Libertarian Party) and Christian Democracy/Solidarianism (by the American Solidarity Party). Assuming that these four parties gained widespread power in the American political scene, how would that shape American politics?

How It Could Work

In the above hypothetical scenario, the Republicans and the Democrats would likely continue to develop their policies in opposition to each other, seeing as they represent opposing sides of the political spectrum. However, the dynamics at play and the strategies involved would be likely be different, owing to the presence of Libertarians and Solidarians, both of whom do not strictly fall on the political spectrum as presently conceived.

In this scenario, it is unlikely that any of the parties would be able to achieve an absolute majority on any given issue, which means that in order to succeed, each party would have to form alliances and coalitions with other parties in order to gain enough legislative support for a given policy. This is much how the multiparty systems of Europe operate in the present. In this situation, the Solidarians and the Libertarians could both be swayed to support either the Left or the Right on a given policy, meaning that both the GOP and the Democrats will have to craft their policies in a way to appeal to these other two parties. Thus, a generally more cooperative state of affairs would likely prevail, with the Democrats and Republicans both representing differing goals for the direction of the culture, the Solidarity Party acting as a tiebreaker in favor of common-good solutions, and the Libertarian Party acting as a safeguard against excessive government overreach.

Of course, this is only one hypothetical outlook, and is definitely a best-case scenario for the American Solidarity Party, which as of yet remains a tiny new party in its infancy. There are many other possible ways that a multiparty America could develop. One possible way in which this hypothesis could be changed is if the Green Party and Working Families Party end up becoming larger movements than they currently are. Both these parties garnered a couple hundred thousand votes in the 2020 election, and both represent ideologies that have turned into distinct movements in Europe. It is entirely possible that they would do so in America as well, which would strongly re-shape this scenario. The most important thing is that supporters of minority ideologies begin to envision what a multiparty America could look like, so that they have something to aim for in their political strategies.

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What do you think a multiparty America would look like? Tell us in the comments below!