The same way you fight any sort of problem like this. Become the squeaky wheel in your electorate. Highlight clearly the problems that both sides are bringing in together and build a momentum such that the sitting member knows he won't get in and neither will his opposition party person, if they continue to support such notions.
If it means a loss for the major parties by having, say, an independent taking over, then both sides will start to listen.
However, that kind of activism is very hard work and you have to be prepared for the rest of your electorate to be blaise about the subject matter.
Can someone show/tell me what I, an average person, can do?
Get personally involved with your representatives and senators. Write paper letters, call, and show up in person.
Be friendly and talk with other voters at the events you show up to. Educate them on this issue. Abandon party affiliation, work with both Democrats and Republicans.
The way you can make your voice - and everyone else's - heard is in votes. Organize a coalition against a politician you think is bad. Get donations. Run ads.
Not saying it's easy, but when it comes to election day, that politician truly does hinge on the majority of people filling in the bubble by one name. If you can make that not happen a real threat in the candidate's mind, they'll listen to your desires.
Nothing is stopping you from going out and putting together get-out-the-vote efforts for "independents". Nothing is stopping you from emulating this model in a way you feel is less distasteful. The only person stopping you is you. If you feel this is a major issue, why aren't you doing anything about it?
Gather friends, find out the primary sponsor, and primary out / support the other candidate next time an election cycle happens. Be very vocal and very clear that any candidate of any party who introduces this type of bill or toxic amendment will get the same. Do not look at any other issue or political party affiliation. Make the politicians fear you.
More pragmatic would be to vote anti-incombant regardless of party until things change. Let the elected officials know that if they want a second term, they had better cooperate.
I respectfully disagree that politicians can't take a strong position on an issue and still win an election. It's our responsibility to be persistent/loud enough so that they feel the need to answer, but if you've got a better suggestion, I'm all ears.
Use money. If a politician is pissing you off on some issue, write and say 'I've donated to your opponent'. Unlike voting, donations are recorded and public information, so if you donate $50 to Party B, (even though you support party A at heart), then the Party A candidate has to raise an extra $50 at the next election. You can always donate to Party A closer to the election if you want to even things out, but donating between cycles is a very powerful way of sending a message. Alternatively, support a primary challenger. Money talks. Is this institutionalized corruption? Sort of, but I'm not sure it's something you can ever legislate away.
If you don't want to spend money, you can also change your party registration. Also, write letters on actual paper. They have to be opened and filed, and have considerably more impact than phone calls, faxes, or emails. Or write an op-ed explaining why a politician's vote on some topic is wrong.
Which shows another solution - educate. Go out and talk to people. Not about candidates, parties, platforms, but about the fact that they have no voice.
The concern is more how many of those people will show up to vote against you in races which can have very small numbers of voters, and how much of a hassle they'll make for your office. If someone decides that you're part of the problem, you'll be getting lots of contacts, public records requests, etc. The things which circulate on neighborhood listserves, Facebook groups, etc. can be pretty absurd but they might break down into the 95% who don't care and ignore them and the 5% who care enough to put a lot of energy into obstruction.
None of that precludes doing the right thing, of course, but if it's not an issue you care strongly about you might decide not to fight it. The best countermeasure is for everyone else to tune out local politics less, which is an area people oddly ignore even though it has the most day to day impact on your life.
Right, if you want to shift power to alternatives, fund them, volunteer for them, and advocate for them (and for electoral changes that negate the incentive to tactical voting) between general elections so that they can be a reasonable choice (either by displacing a major party or by competing under rules which no longer make voting for the least-bad major party the clearly best choice in a general election.)
Get involved with local politics. E.g. the internal party selection process for a candidate for a seat in the UK parliament may only involve a few hundred people - if that seat is safe (i.e. practically guaranteed to that party) then those few hundred effectively choose the representative, and so have a large voice in determining policy.
(Ironically the one time I was one of the few hundred, our chosen candidate - who was excellent - got beaten by the Greens in an election upset)
The fact that your opponents' party got into power recently and just barely got defeated in the last presidential election says that there jolly well can be differences of opinion whether you like it or not. Instead of futilely insisting otherwise, it's time to start figuring out how to appeal to the electorate so your opponents don't gain power again.
write letters to your senator. Done enmass, this can really change their mind - if they see their electorate care, they are going to add the angle to their campaign. Make sure you vote, and also remember, democracy is slow and painful.
Get involved. It feels a lot better than doing nothing. It won't be easy, and it'll take time, but things will happen. Get a friend involved, too.
Wherever you live, there's probably an Indivisible group, and a group of Democrats. Those are decent starting points; both are big groups with room for policy differences within them.
You fight it by taking the personal hit and run for office yourself. From my experience, the only thing you can really control is yourself. The problem is running for office is a pain and most people don't want their personal lives going public.
If it means a loss for the major parties by having, say, an independent taking over, then both sides will start to listen.
However, that kind of activism is very hard work and you have to be prepared for the rest of your electorate to be blaise about the subject matter.
reply