Change the Party, Don’t Change Parties

Opinions on Party Unity for Both Sides of the Isle

Don’t change parties, change the party. Politics isn’t about getting everything you want, it is about Civil Service. To make a change, you need allies.

A case can be made for a multi-party system (meaning multiple major parties, I realize we have the Green Party, Independents, Libertarians, etc), but even the two parties are one more than many of the founders wanted. Or at least, the Federalist Papers (specifically #10) clearly expresses a desire to avoid political factions and division (which leaves the door open for special interests).

This is to say, as a realist, an American, and someone who cares about progress, it behooves you to work on changing your party from the inside by finding common ground, rather than getting frustrated and routing to another party.

If you saw the LBJ movie on HBO, it is likely fresh in your mind that LBJ and MLK had little in common. Sure MLK and his like-minded faction of Southern Democrats (Freedom Democrats) could have joined with New Deal Democrats to form a new party, but instead they fought tooth and nail for their party. The Solid South Democrats left after 64′, and this gave birth to the Democrats of today (see our other site for a breakdown of the parties switching platforms).

Going back in history a bit more, not even the very popular Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressive Bull Moose Party of 1912 could overcome Wilson’s traditional Democrats, and Taft’s Republican’s lost as a result of the split. Following this split was when the Federal Reserve was created by Wilson and the industrialists. This isn’t about ideology, it is about reality, when you split the party, you open the door to special interests (not knocking the FED here, just saying).

Teddy wanted healthcare reform, so did FDR, so did the Kennedy’s, LBJ did it, Clinton’s tried, Obama did it, etc. Even W. Bush passed healthcare reform. None of this was easy, and none of this was perfect, but it all notably happened within the two party system.

Whether you are a Republican frustrated with Trump, a Democrat frustrated with Hillary, or an Independent who is only a Democrat as so long as Bernie or Trump is in the race, you should take a step back and look for compromise.

The reality is, for all purposes, we have a two party system in America. If you don’t like the direction of your party, put the work in and change it.

In other words, don’t change parties, put the work in and change the party. It doesn’t take an election cycle, it takes a lifetime of blood, sweat, and tears.

It isn’t that we can’t have more major viable parties, it is that we don’t today, and the next round of elections is on our doorstep.