Fusion Energy

The case for multiparty candidates

John J. Pitney, Jr. from the April 1997 issue

(Page 2 of 2)

Accordingly, the Liberals gained a great deal of leverage over Mayor Giuliani, who gave plum jobs to well-connected Liberal Party members and to both sons of the party's state leader. The state's Conservative Party wields similar influence over Pataki.

To supporters of fusion, the New York state Conservative Party demonstrates how the practice can further the cause of principled politics. The party arose in reaction to the governorship of Republican Nelson Rockefeller, whose Mussolini-style public works dwarfed those of any "big-spending" Democrat. After spectacular showings by Conservative candidates (including the election of James Buckley to the U.S. Senate in 1970), Republicans increasingly warmed to the idea of fusion. To win the Conservatives' support, the state GOP moved steadily to the right.

But the Conservative Party experience also raises a cautionary note about fusion. In building its alliance with the GOP, the party has sometimes blessed candidates with less than totally conservative records. Sen. Al D'Amato, a Conservative Party favorite, has openly criticized Republicans for moving too far to the right. And according to the 1996 National Journal vote rankings, D'Amato's conservative scores are anemic: 54 percent on economics, 60 percent on social issues, and 63 percent on foreign policy.

A Conservative Party defender could argue that D'Amato is conservative "enough" and that any candidate who took a harder line would not win a majority in New York. (Buckley won with less than 50 percent in a three-way race.) This line of reasoning has its merits, but it raises larger questions. When minor parties turn pragmatic, what purpose do they serve? If you want to split the difference and yield on principle, why not merely join the Republicans or Democrats? And if fusion encourages compromise, might it diminish the creative, hell-raising, china-breaking role that minor parties have so often served?

If the Supreme Court opens the door to fusion, the leaders of minor parties should be wary before walking in. The major parties are like the Borg in Star Trek: If you get close to them, they'll assimilate you.