It may be time to cage the donkey and the elephant.
Former Undersecretary of Commerce Everett Ehrlich predicts that a third-party candidate will win the office of U.S. president within the next six to eight elections.
The Clinton appointee and current National Public Radio personality spoke as part of the Law and Society residential program yesterday night in the Fisher Hassenfeld College House library.
The Morning Edition commentator compared the development of the corporate world since the popularization of the Internet to the future of the political party system.
"The political system is changing rapidly because of technology," Ehrlich said.
Specifically, he described pre-Internet business organization as very vertical, with communication mainly conducted through "sneaker-net" -- the manual transfer of memos within a building.
With the expansion of information technology, company employees can now communicate more efficiently -- both internally and externally -- and for less money.
"It is possible for companies to coordinate because of the change in information technology and the decrease in price of information," he said.
Ehrlich theorized that a lower cost of communication of information will allow political third parties to break up the current two-party "duopoly."
In particular, he noted the controversy over health care funding as a rift in the Democratic Party that could lead to a rise of a "centrist" third party, or one emerging from the center of the Democratic and Republican parties.
When discussing the current political situation, he described 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Howard Dean as a third-party candidate trying to take over the Democratic Party. He predicted that "Dean will create a proto-party that will be Web-based and create a possibility for a 2008 victory."
He also discussed the effects of the Internet as possibly being able to eliminate the need for parties to stamp their "brand name" on candidates.
Through the Internet, an individual candidate may be able to garner votes without a specific party affiliation, according to Ehrlich.
Audience members -- most of whom live in the Law and Society wing of Fisher Hassenfeld -- said they found Ehrlich's presentation informative.
"The combination of economics, political science and technology was fascinating," College freshman Corinne Smith said. "He made it very pertinent."
Many of the other 15 attendees agreed.
"He had an interesting theory grounded in realism," College freshman Allison Toppel said. "I found it very impressive."
College freshman Amara Rockar said she appreciated Ehrlich's ability to connect to a college audience.
"He did a great job explaining the current political situation."
Ehrlich has authored two books, one of which is titled Big Government. Most recently, The Washington Post published his controversial article "Q: What will happen when a national political machine can fit on a laptop? A: See below."
