Last-Man-Standing Politics

The Plot to Push the Middle Away from the Polls

Newt Gingrich started Last-Man-Standing Politics in the 1980s. The goal was to make the average voter so disgusted with government and with politics in general that he wouldn’t bother to vote.

The plan is simple: The Republicans have the larger loyal base of voters, so if people don’t vote, leaving only the parties’ bases, Republicans win.

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Remember, the American political system is based not a majority vote, but on a plurality vote. The candidate that receives the most votes, even though less than a majority of eligible voters actually vote, is still the winner.

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By convincing people that their votes didn’t matter, Gingrich convinced the average American to sit on his hands on election day. We had some of the lowest voter turnouts in American history and the Republicans won just enough seats, relying on their base, to take over the congress in 1994.

Karl Rove continued Gingrich’s plan by aiming the Bush campaigns directly at the Republican base. In the past, politicians generally tried to attract independent voters, but Rove was able to disgust enough Independents and get just enough base voters to support his candidate to barely win. In fact, Al Gore won the plurality of votes in 2000.

Independents turned out in droves in 2008 and Obama swept into the Whitehouse. Now, the Independents are disgusted again. Why? The Republican Party has stopped everything in the Senate and all most voters see is that the government can’t get anything done.

This year, the same group throws out bizarre accusations, like throwing spaghetti at a wall, to see what sticks and what will lead to voter disgust with the process. Many voters will sit out this year’s elections. Many others, like beagles, will blame the party that’s in power for every problem, no matter who caused them.

Having pushed the average voter away from the polls the Republicans will be the Last-Man-Standing.