90. Can You Build a Political Tribe Out of the Moderates Left Behind? – Paul Chapman

It's making us all incredibly worried about our form of government and about democracy is that there's no principles anymore. We all thought we had principles on how we govern, but those principles have pretty much gone away.

Hi, I'm Paul Chapman and I am the founder of the Democratic Party. I live right here in San Mateo, California and I'm a political scientist, I'm a technologist, I'm an entrepreneur, and I'm a management consultant.

Thank you so much, David. It's a pleasure being here.

Be glad to. You know, it's interesting because as a political scientist, I just love studying American politics in particular. And in fact, my degrees are all in political science and no intention whatsoever to ever start a third party. But as I was studying what was happening here with the dysfunctionality of our two political parties, what I discovered were a number of facts. One is that our Congress, this is our House of Representatives, has been in a very slow decline in terms of performance over the last 70 years. You see, back in the 1950s, late 1950s, they were passing roughly about 900 bills in every single Congress congressional session. Today, it's roughly around 50 to 60. No kidding. You can see that steep decline. It's sort of like a ski slope all the way from the 1950s to right here, 2026. And that is really disturbing. Our Congress is just not performing. They're in a paralytic state. So that's one. And so when I saw that, it started to, to better understand what was happening here. And then what I realized is that there were a number of factors that were causing our government, and in particular the legislative branch, to be in a position where it really wasn't living up to America's expectations. And one of the biggest factors is the fact that most of our congressional districts today are not competitive. Virtually 80% of the congressional districts today have been what's called sweetheart gerrymander, in which this coming November elections, 399 of the congressional districts are already decided. I mean, it just, it's unbelievable. 36 are the only congressional districts that are really up for grabs could be off by a few here and there, but generally speaking, we don't have much in the way of any competition. And you and I both know, David, is that when you divide up like that, you are creating a polarizing environment. And that's what we're living with right now. And so then I started to look at what's causing this polarization and what I found is that starting back, oh, in the 1980s and just accelerating since 2010 due to a Supreme Court decision, there's more and more of funding from the political action committees going to the congressional candidates, going to the elections, such that we're ending up with a significant number of our congressional candidates and our House members that are focused more on the fringes. This is where and how we got to maga, which is the fringe factor. This is how we got to the progressives on the Democratic side. And those polarized areas are such that both the Democrats on the left and Republicans on the right have abandoned the center of America, the moderates. How do we know that? Gallup just released a survey that showed 45% of Americans that don't align with either the Republicans or the Democrats. 45%. That is an all time high. That means, in fact that we're almost at half of the electorate that doesn't see themselves aligned with either one of the parties. They're alone. They have no political party. And interesting enough, in that same survey, only 20% align with the Democrats and only 20% align with the Republicans. So if you've got 45% that don't have a home, this is an opportunity of a lifetime for a third party to come on in. And that is why I made a conscious decision to start the third party and ultimately bring the Democratic Party to life.

Yeah. Okay, let me give you my perspective on this. And by the way, you're spot on. David. Do you realize. I think you do. When you and I look at the Republicans today, it's not the Republicans that you and I know as we grew up. And the same thing with the Democrats, it's not the same Democratic Party. When you study the Democrats and the Republicans going back 50, 60, 70 years, they were coalitions that had both liberal and conservative groups within them. That's not the case anymore. Those coalitions are gone. And both parties have become more purist in their thinking. And those that align with both, either the Republicans or the Democrats, are also aligned with that purist. That is exactly why you're seeing the 45% percent, because that group in the middle, and that's me, I think it's you. We're like, okay, we're not purists. Depends on the issue. So one of the things that's very interesting about the Syntocratic party is not from an ideological standpoint. I'm not going there from an ideological standpoint because as you point it out, you don't think, come on, you know, we already, you know, we're going to make a decision on it. It's more around the governing principles. What we stand for and what I have put into place as part of the Center Credit Party with my team are nine guiding principles that form the foundation of this political party. The first one is safeguard our democratic system. Govern through compromise, not domination. Number two, limit terms for accountability. Impose term limits on public office to prevent entrenchment and ensure representatives remain accountable to voters on that. Number three, protect election integrity. Guarantee transparent, fair and nonpartisan elections. Uphold certified results and let voters decide outcomes through lawful processes. Number four, one law for all. The law applies equally to all independent courts. Ensure fair process and protect basic rights. Those four are all under the category of Democratic foundation. The next two fall into the category of collaborative governance. And that's number five, debate with facts and dignity. Number six, seek unity through broad support. Build policies that earn broad, lasting Support. And then finally, the last category is principled leadership. And number seven is govern with a balanced approach. Reject both government overreach and government absence. Provide essential services, measure results, end what fails, and enforce fiscal discipline. Number eight, defend our freedom. Unite with allies to deter aggression and defend free nations against military, cyber and economic threats. And the number nine, exemplify global leadership. Demonstrate American and democratic values through dignified, restrained and humane leadership at home and abroad. That is what defines the Center Cratic party. And I can tell you, and you know this, David, you go out to the Republican Party website, you go out to the Democratic Party website, you will not find anything like that with either of the two political parties. All you will find are the 2024 platforms. And if you read those platforms, you will, you just, you will see that they're that, that that's how they govern. And that is not really defining the United States of America the way you and I feel. This, this country should be governed.

Yeah, let's start with the Libertarian Party because I think it is important that I, I note that this is far different than the Libertarian Party. Libertarian Party will always be around, but it's a niche party and it falls into the category of an ideological party. Now, with that said, you and I both know that every one of the states has significant barriers for a third party. But I love a challenge. I have been in the technology space my entire career, although my degrees are all in political science and I have a passion for political science. I also have a passion for problem solving, having the ability to start three businesses, work with companies, and solving major business and technology problems. I look at what we're confronted with here as a third party, and once you understand what the rules are and the rules are very clear, then you just look at how you're going to solve them. The other thing is that there's clear opportunities to bypass some of those restrictions. There are 41 states that allow write in candidates, write in votes. And so depending on the opportunity and depending on the election, that is a great option for the center cratic party in order for us to get in there and start making headway in terms of getting not only the right candidates, their, you know, in place in winning elections, but also gaining the momentum that we need. So that's just on the election front, on the fundraising.

Political action committees we have to, just like the Democrats and the Republicans, we have to go fundraiser and political action committees is going to, it is part of our overall strategy. There are a lot of folks on the left and a lot of folks on the right that contribute via PACs. But you and I also know there's a lot of folks in the middle that are disgusted with what they're seeing on the left and the right and are gladly willing to contribute to a centrist political party.

I'm an avid reader and I love reading op EDS in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post. I'm on X, you know, daily and all of that. It's just so funny. It is, it's funny to me because depending on the article, whatever you get. Yeah, the two tribes as you talked about. Okay, depending on who it is, you know what the article or whatever it is, you know, one group is slamming the other. But here's the thing, David, because we've been living in this two party world and there hasn't been a third party. Your question is really kind of open for grabs. I don't know because we have never really experienced a third party coming into the mix. And it's interesting if you were to see my responses. And I love to be able to do this because I'm right there. And don't get me wrong, I'm not like one of these goody two shoes in the middle. I call both of the parties out in my messages and when it's called for, they hear it from me. But your point is, is a, is a good one. We don't know because we haven't had that third party in the middle for people to say, well, maybe that's my tribe. Don't know, only time will tell.

Point well taken. But you know, so far as this has been, you know, presented to voters, to Americans, no one's come back and said this. I, I'm interpreting this different for a Democrat versus a Republican. And in fact, when these principles were put together, they were put together in sort of a neutral way. Here's the other really interesting thing. If you were to go out to the Center Cratic Party website, again, that's Center Cratic Party. What we do is we take these principles and they're primarily the Democratic foundation and collaborative governance principles that's around debate with facts, seek unity through broad support. And we take an issue might be immigration, it could be something dealing with education, whatever it might be. And we show what all three political parties where their stance is on a particular issue, and then we show where we are on that issue and how we apply these principles in order to build our policy up against them. But I would welcome to your point, if anyone, and including the political parties think that they are adhering to these nine principles, hey, let's see it. But you and I both know we're not seeing that now, and we certainly aren't seeing it on the Republican side. And we don't have enough time in today's podcast. But I can throw out scenarios with both political parties on virtually every one of these where they're not demonstrating these. They certainly are.

is safeguard our democratic system governed through compromise, not domination.

Yeah. And that. Yeah. Was guaranteeing transparent, fair and nonpartisan elections, uphold certified results and let voters decide outcomes through lawful processes.

Yeah. Because in fact, you and I are dealing with it right now because both of the two political parties have their own definitions of what election integrity is. Right. But then this also is where number six comes into play and that is seek unity through broad support. Build policies that are in broad lasting support, where consensus is out of reach, respective communities will find their own path. And then this is also where number one comes in. Govern through compromise, not domination.

I haven't. But then again, I'm, I'm not trying to get, you know, MAGA sure. Folks to embrace this. And in fact, it's funny because when there's marketing, you know, that's really focused on, you know, the, the moderates, once in a while, either the progressives or the, the, the MAGA folks will chime in. And it's so, so interesting some of the comments that come in. We're not trying to persuade them. You even said it. You know, they already have their perspective and by the way, we respect, you know, what they stand for and we're not going to try to change them. And that's not important for us. It's really more around making sure the moderates, those in the center, feel that there's no hidden messages.

Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Yeah.

Best ways to go out to our website, which is center cratic dot party. We also have a substack love for you guys to go out there and visit us. We're at center voter. All one word. Center voter.

Well, thank you so much for inviting me, David. Really appreciate it.

Ram.