David Webber, Columbia MISSOURIAN, August 25, 2023
The American political party system is a mess; the No Labels movement is a ray of hope. James Madison and friends did a remarkable job in operationalizing the “checks and balances” of the three policy-making branches of government, but they couldn’t quite imagine and agree on how to elect national officeholders. Therefore, they resorted to having the 13 colonies, now the 50 states, administer the election of federal officials along with the election of state and local officials.
Nearly 250 years later we ended up with diverse voting requirements and methods, an ill-suitable presidential primary schedule, the Electoral College, hundreds of self-serving campaign fundraising machines — and individual-based elections, weakly held together by party labels that mean different things to different people. And, it seems that everyone has the goal of getting people of their label into office without much thought about what they will do once they are there. All along, individual self-interest swamps the collective good.
America needs a better party and electoral system. It should be a system that nurtures citizens to become candidates, that requires only a reasonable personal time and financial commitment, provides many avenues of citizen involvement, gives voters several candidates from which to choose, prepares candidates to become responsible officeholders if they are elected, and results in the most preferred candidates being electorally successful.
Instead, we have a patchwork of state and local laws held together by a federal law that the presidential election be held the “first Tuesday after the first Monday in November,” and the candidate age requirements set forth in the Constitution. Almost everything else about elections is uncoordinated.
Now, I can imagine a thoughtful package of reforms calling for more uniform electoral procedures and approval or ranked-choice voting rather than “the one with the most votes win — even if a tiny margin.” We need stronger party organizations with regular memberships, active policy development, candidate schools and governing conferences. We need a mixed public-private campaign finance system where once candidates show viability, they receive public funding so that they are not bought off by private interests .
No Labels offers an alternative. No Labels is a movement that has adopted a moderate, reasonable platform and is getting ready to launch a third-party 2024 presidential candidate. Former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, is serving as the No Label’s director of ballot integrity.
It is noteworthy that last year, former U.S. Senator Jack Danforth, supported and led an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Nixon and Danforth have each had more than 30 years in elected office, both served as Missouri attorney general and are both mainstream moderates — yet they concluded that the current political party system is not meeting American voters needs.
Its looks likely that the 2024 presidential primary process will give us a rerun of 2020, with Donald Trump running against incumbent Joe Biden, a match up that two-thirds of voters in battleground states do not support, but who prefer a third party instead.
No Labels is preparing to offer America an “insurance policy”— a plan and program “to ensure Americans have the choice to vote for a presidential ticket that features strong, effective, and honest leaders who will commit to working closely with both parties to find commonsense solutions to America’s biggest problems.”
No Labels has well developed “foundational beliefs” proclaiming their gratefulness to be in a country where disagreement is open and their belief that country is more important than any political party. They proclaim moderate views and rewarding hard work but believe America should help people who cannot help themselves or who fall on hard times. They want a well-functioning government that addresses our common problems and empowers Americans to reach their full individual potential.
In 72 pages, No Labels presents 30 policy principles in the following categories: the politics of problem-solving; being responsible; immigration and border security; public safety; America’s youth; energy and environment; protecting America; democracy, empathy and equality; and opportunity.
Overall, No Labels stakes out moderate positions that receive majority support in polls of American citizens. They accept both reproductive rights and the right to own a gun, acknowledging that a majority of Americans want to provide for those two rights while reducing the number of abortions and keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people.
The prospects for a third party candidate being elected president are not bright, but No Labels is off to a good start. They are already on the ballot in 10 states. (Editor’s note: Missouri is not one of them.)
No Labels pledges not to be a spoiler by helping either of the two major party candidates win. They say that late next summer, after both the Democrats and Republicans have nominated their candidates, No Label will decide whether to enter the presidential race with its own candidate.
In the meantime, political journalists should sit down with all 2024 candidates and ask them for their reactions to No Labels’ 30 policy principles. All citizens should check out No Labels.
Webber Rough and Polished 