Berg -- Realigning Elections -- 3/3/2004
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3. Impending party system crisis — George W. Bush’s failure to win a majority, the de-
cline of loyalty to the major parties, and the continued growth of minor parties show that the sys-
tem is ripe for realignment.
We will not be sure which of these alternative applies until we see how the next few elec-
tions go. I would argue
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that the third is the most likely to be the case. In preparation for that, I
want to lay out a fuller, though still brief, description of the present situation, organized around
my five propositions as they apply to the beginning of the 21st century.
1. Social struggles. As I argue elsewhere, since U.S. social movements have followed a
single issue, go-your-own-way strategy. However, for several reasons — frustration with their
failure to achieve policy change through traditional lobbying, the growing hostility, or at least
unreceptiveness, toward these movements on the part of the Republican party; and the perceived
threat to their interests from the globalization of finance, manufacturing, and commerce — many
movement activists have begun to turn toward politics, and to seek broader unity. The massive
demonstrations for global justice in Seattle and elsewhere are one manifestation of the search for
movement unity; another is an increasing tendency of the more institutionalized parts of these
movements to identify with the Democratic party, and of the more confrontational parts to sup-
port the Greens.
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2. Forces involved. Although some strategic disagreements about the war with Iraq and
unilateralism in foreign affairs are visible, the power bloc seems remarkably united around a
program of free trade, low taxes, and continued dependence of the US economy on fossil fuels.
-----------------------------------
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But not in this paper; see Berg,
Ralph Nader, the Greens, and the Crisis of American Politics.
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Teamsters and Turtles? U.S. Progressive Political Movements in the 21st Century, ed. John C.
Berg (Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). On the global justice movement, see
Benjamin Shepard and Ronald Hayduk, eds., From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and
Community Building in the Era of Globalization (London: Verso, 2002),Eddie Yuen, Daniel
Burton-Rose, and George Katsiaficas, The Battle of Seattle: The New Challenge to Capitalist
Globalization (New York: Soft Skull, 2002),Daniel Burton-Rose, George N. Katsiaficas, and
Eddie Yuen, eds., Confronting Capitalism: Dispatches from a Global Movement (New York:
Soft Skull, 2003).
Convention