It's past time for Florida to ditch two-party system | Guestview

As many people throughout the country are lamenting our presidential choices, there is a lot of discussion about an independent or third-party candidate entering the race. It often seems as if our political parties are too divided to govern effectively. While many of us would like more centrist presidential candidates, the path to more political choice must first begin as a grassroots movement here at home.

Perhaps the most successful third-party candidate to run in the last 50 years was a Texan named Ross Perot. Perot gained enormous popularity by appealing to the average voter. He used easily understandable charts and graphs to explain complicated issues like the federal deficit and the negative impacts of NAFTA, and his ideas were wildly popular.

But despite his popularity and a place on the national debate stage, Perot only garnered about 19% of the vote. Why? Perot was never a serious contender for the White House because the two major political parties control our national elections.

It’s no wonder that George Washington warned Americans about the dangers of political parties in his second inaugural address. Political parties feed off national division, and it’s tough to get rid of them once they are entrenched.

Proud purple to angry red: These Florida residents feel unwelcome in 'new' Florida

As a person who taught young people American Government for years, I think our country is starving for independent candidates. Indeed, I believe we need a nonpartisan revolution to give Americans more moderate political choices again. People are hungry for cooperation and collaboration, not posturing and drama; but real change begins with the individual voter.

The biggest problem to overcome is political apathy at the state level. Most of us don’t pay much attention to state or local politics; after all, state issues are not often covered by popular political pundits. It’s important to note, however, that almost all election laws happen at the state, not the federal, level.

The two national political parties control state politics. They have crafted laws over the years to make it very difficult for independent candidates to get on the ballot. And the two parties’ most extreme members control the primary elections, which are closed to non-party members in many states, including Florida. Gerrymandering also happens in the state legislatures, ensuring that the two parties stay in control forever.

If you don’t entirely understand gerrymandering, you’re not alone. It happens because of the national census taken in the U.S. every 10 years. After everyone in the country is counted, the seats in the House of Representatives are divided among the states based on population; bigger states get more seats. Once the seats are allotted to the states, the parties in control of the state legislatures get to redraw the voting district boundaries in a way that politically favors the controlling party. This happens in most states, but in our state, the result has been one party gaining a supermajority in our state legislature, even though that party does not hold a supermajority among actual voters.

Supermajorities are perhaps the least democratic way to govern. The party leaders write the bills, and our elected representatives vote as the party tells them to vote. There is no longer any required debate, so we see our state legislators passing an unprecedented number of laws, many of which attack our rights to oppose their rule. In some ways, it’s not unlike elections in China — people there can vote, but every candidate on the ballot is a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

The solution is quite simple. First, we need to stop “straight ticket voting” (voting for representatives solely based on the “R” or “D” next to their names). We need to consider each candidate as an individual and make each candidate earn our vote. If you do not clearly align with a national party platform, then consider changing your state voter identification to N.P.A. (No Party Affiliation).

Next, more Floridians needs to consider running for local or state office. We desperately need independent-minded problem solvers to start entering local races. That’s really the key. We need good, sensible people who just want to make their communities better. These local and state offices do serious business and should not be used simply as a steppingstone for a larger political career.

We need more teachers, accountants, nurses, and small business owners to run. We need regular people who represent most voters, not just the loudest, most extreme among us. We need consensus builders and team players. To paraphrase John Adams, “If good people don’t run, then others will.”

It is possible to take control of our state politics and establish a system of governing where the majority rules, but no national candidate is coming to save us. We Floridians must save ourselves.

Kim Kline is a candidate for the Florida House District 2 seat, running as an N.P.A. candidate. She has lived in Gulf Breeze for 20 years.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: It's past time for Florida to ditch two-party system | Guestview