WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK AND WE MEAN TO HAVE IT. OUT YOU MARXIST NAZI'S GO!
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Posted on 09/04/2009 8:15:01 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob
The last time a new American political party came into being, one strong enough to elect a President, was in 1854. As you have guessed, that was the Republican Party. Its first elected President was Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
Many third party and independent campaigns have been mounted since then. The Progressive Party around 1900 managed to elect Governors and majorities in the legislature of several states. Their high water mark was in 1912, when former President Teddy Roosevelt chose that Party as his vehicle to run again when the Republicans declined to nominate him, again. (No, there never was a “Bull Moose Party.” Don’t send letters and postcards claiming that there was.)
What’s the relevance of this ancient history to the off-year, congressional election in 2010? Well, take a look at that history and see what seems familiar.
The Republican Party began with a meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854. Present were members of the Free Soil Party (favoring continued homesteading rights) and Conscience Whigs (northern Whigs separated from their southern members over slavery). The meeting was led by a disgruntled Democrat (who also split with his Party on slavery).
Remember this point. The new Party was created by people who had been elected under other party labels, but became dissatisfied with their current parties’ stands on key issues. The current two major parties are both fractured over key issues, including taxes, public debt, growth of government regulations, and respect for the Constitution.
All new party efforts since 1854 have failed at the national level. The reason for that unbroken history of failure is because all those new party efforts sought to reinvent the wheel and create parties from scratch. All successful efforts up to 1854 followed a different path. In the successful examples, elected officials changed their party labels, and later captured the support of voters who’d made the same shifts.
In 1856 the Republican candidate, John Fremont, won a third of the votes though his Party wasn’t one of the two strongest parties, going into that election. By 1858, the Republicans held a majority in Congress, not because they had elected a majority of the Senators and Representatives. They elected many. But the Members who put them over the top had been elected under other party labels, but switched to the Republicans.
All right, what is the situation of the current major parties? The Democrats are split into three groups, the hard left, the center, and the moderate right. There is no love lost between the right and left wings of that Party. Votes coming up in Congress will probably demonstrate that the wings of the Democrats hate each other enough so they will refuse to vote together.
The Republican Party is also fractured, into the hard right, and the squishy moderates. The hatred within the Party may be less, but the refusal to hold together for votes in Congress will be equally apparent.
And where do the American people stand? They have contempt for both the Republican and Democrat Parties. On the issues, public opinion is more against the Democrats than Republicans. Experts on both sides of the aisle expect the Democrats to lose seats in both Houses of Congress in 2010. But because the Republicans are also disrespected, they will probably will not win a majority in either House.
Some Republicans talk of “rebranding the Party.” Such efforts will fail. Just because the cat has kittens in the oven, doesn’t make them biscuits. However, if a majority of Republicans and a minority of Democrats all support these four issues -- obey the Constitution, cut taxes, reduce government control of lives of Americans, and support term limits – as a group they will dominate the elections and control both Houses of Congress.
What label will they adopt? The Tea Party Party is too casual. They will dump the current leaders of both Houses of Congress, assuming that Senator Reid has not already been dumped by his Nevada constituents, a preliminary shock heralding the coming earthquake.
No pundits are currently talking about this new party possibility. It is a long shot. But those who ignore the political history of American parties do not even realize this has happened several times before, and can happen again.
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About the Author: John Armor practiced in the US Supreme Court for 33 years. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu His latest book, on Thomas Paine, is available here: www.TheseAreTheTimes.us (Note the suffix, .us)
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The Liberty Party
Restore America Party
America First Party
March of Freedom Party
Renew America Party
Independence Party
Members would be nicknamed "Weepuls". ; )
American Conservative Party is good
Constitutionalists Party is OK
Founders Party
Liberty Party
Reform and Restoration Party
New American Party
America First Party
Keep America Free Party
With Sarah Palin involved the Bull Moose Party might not be bad, at least as a nick name. What ever is selected—now is the time to establish a new Conservation-Constitutionalists party. WE need to clean out the stink hole that is Capital City Corruption. Maybe the Pitch Fork Party might be good.
Ross Perot lost because of the Loopy nature of Mr. Perot. When things got hot he flinched. He was also looking for the top job—a real party must build from the bottom up. It must have people in the City Councils, State Houses, Assemblies, Congress, Governorships and the Senate to help the President the party elects. How many people did the Reform Party get elected besides Jessie the Body Ventura? We have a choice:
1. Take over a Party that exists (Pat B. failed in his attempt to take over the Reform Party) but I think with enough people this could be done.
2. Form a whole new Party—we would need a convention and some big money men behind us. This was how the Republicans started.
3. Re-Take the Republican Party—but I think the GOP is too entrenched in their power to want to change beyond lip service. Still, if they were faced with defections they might turn to the right. This would be an added benifit. Still, the Republican Party is part of the problem—remember Bush? Remember McCain?
4. Start a Conservative Movement that would transcend Party. A reform movement that would be almost religious in focus. These could help clean up the two parties from the bottom up.
5. Start a New American Movement that would demand inner reflection and almost military discipline to restore American Greatness. This should re-establish patriotism in the schools and community. Ban racial references of any type. This could be a neo-fascist movement to organize all Americans in the restoration. This could save the nation but—I fear it might have some rather bitter side effects, but, hey, the streets would be safe again, everyone would have jobs, Uniforms and rallies and the trains would run on time! Think Evita and Juan Peron— Not Hitler.
Governor Palin is already involved as a leader within her own party, the GOP.
To sell yet another "third party" (joining 49 current ones) you need to use your own candidates names, not the GOPs leaders and icons like Governor Palin and President Reagan.
But unlikely. Let's be realistic a new party would require several hundred million dollars if not a cool billion to take on the well entrenched establishment parties with vast rolls of donor's, operatives, and grass roots energy. It will not be one party against the other, it will be two against one. So this third party will need to have very deep pockets.
Secondly, this new party will need to recruit first tier talent. The best way would be to recruit from within the ranks of the existing parties and to convince very popular private sector personalities to run under the new parties banner.
Thirdly, this new party, if it seeks to be more then a flash in the pan fad, will need to focus on winning seats in congress, legislators, city councils, mayoral, and Governors seats first. A new party would need to focus on building the party from the ground up, from school board to U.S. Senate and all that is between to be taken as credible and to develop the legislative record and establish a nationwide network of dedicated grassroots activists, donors, and operatives that would give the party staying power and the ability to effect and demonstrate a record of reform to the American Public.
Any new party that focused on taking the WH first is doomed for failure period. The party quickly becomes a cult of personality (see the reform party) and collapses from a power vacum when that personality either leaves or loses favor. Even if such a party were to succeed at wining the WH first without any influence in congress, state houses, or Governors Mansions, they would be miserable failures, or watered down do nothing executives, who can't effect any real reform because they have absolutely zero influence with congress.
So when a third party can bring to bare real financial resources (I'd be impressed if they could take in $75 million let alone the $500 M to $1B needed to run an effective nationwide party) and real leaders, and not just a cult following behind this or that fad candidate (see Perot or Nader) and one that focuses on party building before rushing for the top prize I will definitely consider jumping ship.
But I won't hold my breath. Third Parties are almost always made up of “pure” ideologues from which ever area of the spectrum they hale from, who turn the party into either a cult of personality, or a useless single issue party (like the Libertarian Party's obsession with legalizing pot), and focus more on party purity then electability.
Come on, it’s obvious!
It needs to be the Free Republic Party!
WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK AND WE MEAN TO HAVE IT. OUT YOU MARXIST NAZI'S GO!
Closed primaries in the republican party would go along way in restoring the party.Keeping the rinos at bay is tough enough without the cross over votes of libs.
You're right! That's the best one yet! It flows, it doesn't sound corny, and, I think it would catch on.
-PJ
As in a free breakfast included with your stay? :)
If you could spell you might have more credibility... even with the crude language.
AIP was founded last year by FReepers, and is already the nation's third-largest based on voter registrations.
AIP was founded last year by FReepers, and is already the nation's third-largest based on voter registrations.
I don’t give a rats ass about spelling and even if I know it’s wrong I won’t correct it, EVER!
I intentionally use bad grammer just to piss off people like you off!
As a long time Libertarian I can tell you more than anything else the Dems & Pubs have closed the door to ballot access. The rules to get on the ballot are not fair. There have been lawsuits but it doesn’t matter. There were 2 or 3 last election where Libertarian papers were denied for some procedural “failure” (later — when the election was over shown to not be failures) when Dem or Pub papers were accepted without question with same “defects.” Deadlines for example. It’s a fight every year to get on the ballot and then to stay on the ballot. It costs a lot of money just to get through the legal maze they have constructed.
That must be researched & taken into account.
Yes, I’ve been saying this for some time. Ordinarily, third parties are a waste of time. But once in every 100 or 150 years, a major party dies, and a new party is born. I think we’ve about reached that stage with the Republican party.
The solution is funding. When the RNC calls looking for a handout, tell 'em to POUND SAND. Tell the caller that you WILL NOT give them ANY money until they revoke party membership of every single jackass RepublicRAT that voted for Crap & Trade.
Withold funding and see the party either die a whimpering death or see the GOP GET WITH THE PROGRAM.
'Til then, feel free to directly support campaigns of individual candidates that have proven themselves to have a set of values that agrees with yours.
Won't work.
i live in a closed primary state, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Want to know how Senator "Angus McSpincter" kept on getting re-elected?
Simple. Democrats re-registered as Republicans to vote in the primary, and then re-register as Democrats for the general election.
It's a common trick which is used to select the weakest candidates, or RINO's who will support the other party's agenda.
i speak as a registered Libertarian, who doesn't have a dog in the two party fight and is detached from that particular problem (our candidates, when there is more than one contender for an office, are usually selected at the appropriate party convention...state, national).
How about the Republican party and we kick the rino’s out in the primaries?
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