Along the Frontier Column

Why We Need a New Party, A Party for Commonwealth

By Courtney White, A West That Works., 5-13-10

America needs a new grassroots political party – one that literally starts over at the grass and the roots. 

I’ve had this idea for a while, but I’ve kept it on a mental shelf as unworkable, unreachable, and just plain nutty. But the rise of the Tea Party, the Coffee Party, and a recent poll released by the Pew Research Center showing that nearly 80% of Americans have little or no faith that the federal government can solve the nation’s ills, has convinced me to pull my crazy idea down from the shelf and blow some dust off.

What we need is a Party that focuses on municipal and county offices, and no higher. Let the Democrats and Republicans gridlock themselves at the state and federal level; what we need is action at the local level, such as the promotion local food production, or the creation of local energy trusts. We need a Party that focuses on the wealth of local communities – by that I mean local history, culture, economic opportunity, and can-do spirit. 

Let’s call it the Commonwealth Party and let’s say its mission is to build economic and ecological resilience to meet the steep and diversifying challenges of the 21st century. 

A good example of the “common wealths” that all communities share can be found on the nonprofit Ogallala Commons’ web site. They include: Health, Spirituality, History, Renewable Energy, Foodshed, Soil, Water Cycles, Wildlife, Arts, Education, Leisure, and A Sense of Place. 

Improving and maintaining all twelve sounds like a great Party platform, if you ask me. 

City and county governments can do this work in a way that can no longer be accomplished effectively at the state and federal level. County governments, for example, have a great deal of policy and administrative power at their disposal. If they wanted to take the lead in fostering local food systems, for instance, they would have a big impact. Energy too.

By contrast, state and federal governments, although they have the power to make a difference locally, seem hopelessly gridlocked politically and bureaucratically. This is important because we need innovation and we need it quickly. The multiplying challenges confronting us, such as climate change, require a flexible, energetic, and entrepreneurial (dare I say) political process to go along with the innovation coming out of the private sector these days. 

But innovation doesn’t describe the Democratic and Republican Parties, at least at the local level. But it could describe a Commonwealth Party. Now, I know there have been third parties before, such as the never-say-die Green Party here in New Mexico. But these parties can’t resist the temptation of aiming for statewide or federal office, inevitably falling short in elections, and as a result fail to make of a dent in the hegemony of the Two Party system.

I say, forget challenging the Status Quo at the state and federal levels. Let’s concentrate our political will at the local level and focus on what many are calling the ‘radical center’ – a place where city residents, farmers, ranchers, conservationists, scientists and many others can begin to build bridges across the urban-rural divide. It’s not a pipe-dream – in fact, it’s been going on for a while in small pockets of collaborative effort across the American West. It’s just never stepped up to a political stage.

Maybe the time has come to try. 

A Commonwealth Party would be essentially ‘non-denominational’ - by that I mean it would pledge to stick to building resilience locally, finding pragmatic solutions to pressing problems, and leave the ‘political positioning’ on certain issues to the Main Parties. Someone running for County Commissioner or a City Mayor or Councilor on the Commonwealth Party ticket would be neither a Democrat or a Republican on issues of food security, renewable energy, or sensible development. 

I think a Commonwealth Party could find a home in the American West, especially as we transition from the previous ‘New West’ of standoffs over wilderness, endangered species, natural resource extraction, and growth to the next ‘New West’ which is already confronting questions of sustainability and resilience in what is shaping up to be a tempestuous century. 

Much of the sustainability ‘toolbox’ has been developed already (organic farming, progressive cattle management, watershed restoration, alternative energy technology), but what is lacking is a political process to put this toolbox into action. Personally, I’ve come to the conclusion that it won’t happen at the state or federal levels. That’s why we need to focus at the local political level. And that’s why we need a Commonwealth Party.

A century ago, a crisis in democracy in America was met by a novel solution: more democracy (now called the Progressive Era). We need the same solution today, and the place to start is with the grass and the roots.

Courtney White is the executive director and co-founder of the Quivira Coalition and the author of Revolution on the Range: the Rise of a New Ranch in the American West as well as countless articles and essays on the region. His Along the Frontier column runs on NewWest.Net twice a month. Read more from Courtney at his Web site, www.awestthatworks.com.

You can read Courtney’s entire series of columns, which are presented as a sequence, on his New West archive at www.newwest.net/courtneywhite. See the most recent columns below.

The New, Carbon West
Understanding the ‘New’ West: Whither the Public Lands?
The Geography of Hope
After the West’s New Gold Rush
Do We Care Less? Polls Show Decline in Concern for the Environment

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