Moving California Forward with the Common Sense Party The Bob Zadek Show

Our country has been governed since its founding by a two-party system. The Constitution did not establish political parties, which the founders feared. History proves their concerns were prescient, not paranoid. James Madison hoped opposing factions would counterbalance each other's power, through "ambition offset[ting] ambition." Unfortunately, it did not work out that way. Rather, one hand simply washes the other, leaving US citizens with the resulting dirty soapy water.
In 1776, Thomas Paine offered the colonies 47 pages of Common Sense, which became the most widely read book of the times.
Today our guest, Tom Campbell, offers us the Common Sense political party.
Tom served five terms in the US Congress and two years in the California State Senate. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago and a JD magna cum laude from Harvard. He was a White House Fellow and a US Supreme Court law clerk.
I'm now registered as a Common Sense Party voter – I've given up the pleasure of primary voting, but I'll sacrifice that to support the right thing politically. Read or listen to my interview with Tom and see if you’d like to join me.
The Bob Zadek Show is the country's longest running libertarian broadcast – nationally streamed at 8 AM PT Sundays. Subscribe for weekly transcripts, book summaries and additional resources:

Links:
* Learn more and update your voter registration at CACommonSense.org
* George Washington-Baneful Effects of Political Parties - Thirty-Thousand.org
* Common Sense Party on Twitter
Related Shows:
* Alex Nowrasteh: How Prop. 187 Turned California Blue
* Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop. We know the two-party system is flawed… | by Bob Zadek | Medium
* Restoring Common Sense to California | by Bob Zadek | Medium
Transcript
Why California Needs a Third Party
Bob Zadek (01:58):Tom, welcome back to the show.
Tom Campbell (02:58): Bob, it's a pleasure to be with you. I look forward to a fascinating hour.
Bob Zadek (03:02): Now, Tom, you are a founder of the Common Sense Party. Now let's start with the core issue. What's the problem with a two-party system? Isn't two enough? Why do we need more?
Tom Campbell (03:35): The system we have in California is two parties that have gone to their extremes.
The Democrats have shifted further and further left under the influence of public employee unions and identity politics. The Republicans have shifted to the right under the support of former President Trump, almost reaching cult status.
That leaves those of us in the middle with folks who cannot talk with each other.
That leaves those of us in the middle without a voice in California. Since Democrats have a supermajority, they have no need to listen to anyone else. The parties retreat to their extremes, leaving the rest of us behind.
We can illustrate this in a number of different policy issues. I'll choose one issue: education.
We know the quality of education in public schools through high school graduation is poor. It's far below acceptable levels. And we know that to win the Democratic nomination for legislature, you need support from the California Teachers Union. They oppose charter schools and parents' ability to choose a better school than their local public school. Republicans now make up less than one-third of each legislative house, so they've become irrelevant.
A possible compromise is to give higher pay to teachers in low-income schools—call it merit pay. The California Teachers Union won't allow Democrats to support that; they insist on strict seniority, like most unions. But that prevents good teachers who want more challenging assignments from being paid more. Instead, many skilled teachers become administrators so they can earn higher pay, leaving classrooms where their talents are most needed.
Republicans are hesitant to increase teachers' salaries because some of that money goes to teachers' unions, which fund campaigns against Republican candidates. A compromise is to expa