We are living in a time of decentralized populist political movements, fueled by economic anxiety and magnified by social media.
As Occupy Wall Street spread into satellite protests this past week, there was an understandable impulse to impose an established narrative, asking whether this was the mirror image of the Tea Party protests. Read More…
We were going to talk about the game of politics this morning, but it’s clear Americans are tired of that and frustrated at the current political climate. John Avlon and Ron Brownstein discuss voter discontent. How frustrated are you? A recent New York Times poll found that 82% of Americans now disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job. That’s the highest disapproval rate since the paper started asking the question in 1977.
A similar CNNORC Poll found 84% of Americans are not pleased with how lawmakers are handling their job. With Congress’ disapproval ratings are at historic highs, what are the political implications of Americans’ dissatisfaction with lawmakers? CNN Contributor John Avlon and CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein discuss the winners and losers in this political climate.
magine what our election system might look like if it were designed today: No Byzantine electoral college, no long lines on a random Tuesday, no closed primaries that force candidates into the arms of their party’s special interests. Modern Madisons and Hamiltons would try to devise a process that’s open, online, citizen-driven, and capable of producing leaders that can unify the nation once in office. Read More…
Our first president, George Washington said, “I was no party man myself, and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them.”
His vice president, John Adams, once wrote, “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” Read More…
Independence Day came a few days early this year, as columnist and author Tom Friedman declared his support for a third party at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
“We need a third party. I am for a third party,” Friedman said to applause. “We are trapped in a corrupt duopoly.”
Expressing disappointment with President Obama, dismay with what passes for Republican policy debates, and frustration with the culture of hyperpartisanship in Washington, Friedman sees a reckoning coming, pushed by new technology. “One thing about the Internet and the hyperconnected world—it has flattened every hierarchy in the world from The New York Times to the banking industry. It’s flattened every hierarchy in the world except the two-party system, and that will not remain. That is a prediction that I will make.” Read More…