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narrow special interests inherent to winning re-election. This “fix-it” ticket would promise to force
decisions on all the underlying structural policy matters damaging America’s long-term prospects
and distorting our democracy. No more kicking the can down the road.
e This candidate should also pledge to push for laws passed that reflect the will of simple majorities
in Congress. Congress now only allows bills to move forward when a “majority of a majority”
supports the policy and on many levels seems fundamentally broken. This third-party president
could force votes based on a transparent reading of where the votes lie via coalition building. The
Senate filibuster power will present a high hurdle, but a third-party candidate would be a de facto
disruptor of the two-party system. Party discipline could well break down, and moderates in both
parties could form a powerful, decisive block willing to work with the new President. The policies
passed into law may not be ideal for either Democrats or Republicans, but for the major agenda
items that must be addressed for America’s long-term health, an imperfect fix that corrects course
is better than those that now have us hurtling toward national bankruptcy.
And if no candidate secures 270 electoral votes in 2020? The House of Representatives would choose the
next president. In 2016, reports suggested Michael Bloomberg declined to run on a third-party ticket for
fear of splitting support from Hillary Clinton and throwing the election to a GOP-controlled House of
Representatives who would then vote to select the president. The fear was the GOP controlled House
would have just elected Trump.
Would Democratic control of the House mean that the House would pick an alternative to Trump as
president? Each state delegation has a single vote in selecting a president and it is the incoming Congress
- the class elected in 2020 that would decide the election. But no matter which party has the speaker’s
chair, the GOP would almost certainly have the upper hand in the majority of state delegations
controlled. Would the state delegations pick a president based on party majority control of the
delegation, the winner of the popular vote in each state or their own calculations as to who is best for
America? Precedent suggests that delegations use secret ballots, which means individual lawmakers may
vote their consciences.
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