[GOP Corruption]

Time for Third Parties?

Iggi (as always, via email, not on his blog) points me to the latest Fineman piece, in which he (Fineman, not Iggi) identifies third parties as one of two "winners" in the Abramoff scandal. He doesn't really mean third parties, though, he means known politicians who run under the "independent" brand.

But he got me thinking. This could be the actual solution--seriously defanging the two-party system. Spoils in Washington go to the winner, but they also go lavishly to the loser, too (just slightly less lavishly). There are only two games in town, and Democrats and Republicans like it that way. They advantage themselves through incumbency, innumerable congressional rules, and districting to always ensure that third parties remain totally marginalized. This makes it far easier to consolidate power, give better access to crooks like Abramoff, and vastly reduce transparency in government.

The two parties aren't about to stand down themselves, and Americans won't make 'em, so this is all hypothetical. But, if we could foster viable minority parties, it would solve a whole lot of the institutionalized corruption (much of it totally legal) and give a measure of accountability and transparency back to the people. It would be far harder to consolidate the kind of power the GOP currently has, and minority parties would serve as far better checks as members of coalitions than do "opposition" parties in today's wink-wink politics.

But it ain't gonna happen, so all we can hope for is a lot of GOP humilation. A fair consolation prize.