On Tuesday, in Diversity in everything but representation, I pointed out that America has great diversity in many areas, including political beliefs, but has been forcibly polarized into two opposing camps by two political parties that have destroyed the plentiful competition they once had, and have dominated our government for over 50 years. That domination has resulted in a government that does not in any way represent the diversity of our people.

On Wednesday, in The worst election system on earth?, I reported how the Democratic and Republican parties have colluded to fix elections to guarantee themselves certain victories and long-term jobs. We saw that almost all other civilized nations have far more competitive elections, with multiple parties represented in their legislatures. I pointed out the many disadvantages of our "plurality" system and noted many widespread political ideas that receive NO representation in our system.

On Thursday, in We're overdue for proportional representation, I described the emotional results of our no-real-choice election system that tries to force us to choose the lesser of two evils, with the result of 80 million voters not bothering, and most of the rest of us voting with anxiety that the worst of two evils might win. I contrasted that with the celebratory festival election of Costa Rica, where citizens know that their vote WILL be represented in their national assembly.

Today, again using the Costa Rica as an example, I want to show the practical advantage of an election system that truly represents the citizenry. I will use the example of Movimento Libertario, the Costa Rican Libertarian Party, because it illustrates so well how an open election system can produce change that is simply obliterated in the United States.

First, starting from no party less than 10 years ago, the ML (Movimento Libertario) has won 6 of the 57 seats in the Costa Rican unicameral assembly (naturally, they did it with no government money).

Understand that Costa Rica has had a socialistic government for a long time, and decent prosperity, so there is a large body of citizens who are "wired" into the older parties. They've also had numerous high-level scandals. The ML has made no secret of its desires to eliminate state monopolies and set the country on something other than the current socialistic course where the government makes the major decisions.

Three other parties have more seats (19, 17, and 13) so ML's 6 representatives would seem to be relatively powerless... but certainly not without attention:

[S]ince it's represented in Congress, the Movimiento Libertario has been a topic of study for high school students, who regularly have visited libertarian offices to learn more about libertarianism. College students also seek information about the party and the libertarian position on different topics. That is also why libertarian speakers are frequently asked to visit high schools and colleges.

The news media has also given libertarian positions a prominent place. Proof of this is that we averaged 4 daily newspaper citations in 2001. And we have got much more than our fair share of television and radio appearances. 

The insider watchdog group

I can tell you from following the Movimiento Libertario for several years that they are very effective at presenting information to the public, and especially so at revealing and denouncing instances of corruption and faulty policy... precisely the sort of information that remains hidden in a government dominated by old parties. The public has come to accept the ML as an honest and reliable source of information. From within the governmental structure and with media coverage, they can keep the citizenry informed about what is REALLY going on inside that government.

Contrast the effectiveness of that small inside group with the thousands of "outsider" groups needed in the U.S. just to keep track of what our government is doing, and trying to form programs to influence what that government will do... often with little or no effect. Now consider what the small ML group of 6 can accomplish from within.

Working from a minority position

The new libertarian team, through tough negotiations, signed a one-year Agreement with the current President of the country and with his party's Congressional delegation, for the purpose of reducing government expenses and privileges. The key elements of that Agreement are the following:

A) Change in balance of power

Libertarians obtained half of the seats in the Congressional Directorate. It's an impressive amount of power for a minority party. Libertarians obtained the Chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee, which reviews and votes on the Government's annual budget. We also got three of the eleven seats in the Committee, while the Government's party is now a minority in it. Thus, we can hopefully better supervise the public budget and reduce expenses.

B) Reduction of Congressional expenses and privileges

Under this agreement, in just one day we saved taxpayers about US $6 million. Reduction of privileges for Congressmen, such as use of vehicles and chauffeurs.

Upsetting the embedded forces

A happy result of our electoral success in February 2002 is that statist intellectuals, especially college professors from State-owned colleges, are in a daze. In several newspaper articles they have even resorted to insulting those who voted for us, calling them irrational or ignorant. These authoritarians (mostly leftists here) still don't know what hit them! They were among many "experts" who snickered whenever we announced our electoral goals. Now they are in complete denial, not accepting that their days are numbered, that the fresh breath of freedom is rapidly spreading in Costa Rica!

I want to be absolutely clear that my purpose here is not just to promote the effectiveness of a libertarian party in a small nation, but also to illustrate the effectiveness of a truly representational election system. Even a small minority position cannot be ignored... cannot be overwhelmed. An open election system gives a voice to minorities and alternative views... a voice that becomes "marginal" and easily suppressed in a closed electoral system such as we have in the U.S. I'm quite sure that, around the globe, there are similar tales of non-libertarian parties. The importance is that alternative voices can be heard; if what they say rings true, their influence will grow among the citizenry, which will translate into more future votes, and more political strength.

That is the way that government of the people, by the people, and for the people is supposed to work, isn't it?