WE’RE ALL TRYING to figure out how it came to pass that Donald Trump is now our President-elect. Here are three key takeaways from last night’s vote.

American politics has realigned around class, not cultural values. Race was an important factor in the election, but it doesn’t explain how states that voted for Obama went for Trump this time around. Clinton is seen as an elite, and ran a traditional Democratic campaign – and she was caught flat-footed against a candidate who figured out this new paradigm.

The Democrats have a serious reckoning ahead. They went into the election smug and confident, relying on polling and campaign strategies that were utterly useless. They don’t have a stable of candidates – save Bernie Sanders – who understand this new paradigm, and what’s worse is that the cultural issues that have been their mainstay are about to go down, and candidates who run on those issues alone will lose. That damage is going to be hard to reverse unless Democrats get with the program and jettison the elitism that has brought them to this point.

This election ends the chance of a third party ever taking root in our country. It makes me sad to say it, but the results are a strong argument that third parties end up being not much more than dangerous political spoilers….or, worse, political vandals.

The question for all of us is, what do we do now? I still have hope that the many people who believe in the idea of America will continue to fight to ensure that it remains a place that is worthy of its ideals, and of our children. I know that’s what I will do.

Evan Falchuk is a former candidate for Massachusetts governor and founder of the United Independent Party.

3 replies on “The self-examination begins”

  1. Mr Falchuk, one can trace much of what happened on Tuesday back to our election system. 3rd parties are not dead! Their fate is tied up in our ability to adopt a smarter election system. Here’s a bold plan you could push:

    * One election, ranked-choice or score voting, one winner.
    * No more primaries in MA.

    Don’t say it can’t be done; Maine just passed a ranked-choice voting referendum for federal and state elections. You could lead the commonwealth on this issue, and lift your party to national significance as you do.

  2. Skrap is right! The minor party and independent vote was apparently slightly above 5%. We need to work for instant runoff voting (Maine voters passed it yesterday). Massachusetts has the nation’s easiest statewide initiative process. Mr. Falchuk could get lots of improvement in Massachusetts election laws that would help minor parties, if he just would. For some reason he seems indifferent to the horrors of Massachusetts ballot access laws, laws which have kept most Massachusetts US House elections in each of the last two general elections one-candidate affairs.

  3. A third party at the presidential level is a pipe dream, but at a State, local, and congressional levels, we can and will fight for our voices to be heard

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