Posted on 02/07/2004 1:27:16 PM PST by Fearless Flyers
Ending the Two Party Stranglehold
By: Matthew B. Rogers
As we enter the election season, we hear Republicans harping about how a vote for a third party will put a Democrat in the White House. One has to admit it’s pretty funny. As if it’s anyone but Bush’s fault he’s turned his back on his grassroots support and can’t remember the lessons of his Father’s defeat. After 9-11 this election has been the President’s to lose and he’s been doing a damn fine job of it so far. The truth is if a vote for a third party is a vote for a Democrat, then Bush has already sealed his fate and there is no reason to continue supporting him.
For the last thirty years the American people have been becoming more disenchanted with a two party political system that controls our Nation’s elections. The complaint has come from both conservatives and liberals. In the time since the terrorist strike of 2001, both political parties have compromised their traditional values to appease extreme special interests most of their membership find offensive. This has created a rare opportunity for the Nation’s voters to force a change in the political arena. Making the opportunity even more appealing is the nature of attitude within the two Parties. It seems any conservatives who voice disenchantment with the Republicans continual shift to the left, are met with illogical hyperbolic accusations. This has long been a character flaw within the Democratic Party. The funniest and most hollow accusation is, third party voters are supporting Democrats by speaking out against the liberal policies of the current Republican administration, when it’s precisely the Democrats’ liberal policies the Administration is embracing, that the conservatives are speaking out against.
The debate many Republicans refuse to acknowledge, is that the conservatives speaking out against the liberal policies are recognizing the two political parties are eliminating conservative theory in government and the Nation is gaining momentum towards a mono political party system, liberal in nature, divided between Republican and Democratic factions. Many conservatives believe the current political climate opens the perfect opportunity, to make the most liberal theories in politics irrelevant and greatly damage the Democratic Party. They believe the Republican Party has been infiltrated by enough liberals, they are no longer represented under the GOP’s big tent and the time is ripe to start building a new Conservative Party.
Republicans should recognize the resolve of principled conservatives; they’re not going to change their minds. If they believe Bush is going to lose his reelection bid because of third party voters, then the mold has already been cast. The only hope to keep the Republican’s fear of a Democrat entering the White House, from becoming reality is to follow a different tactic. Otherwise they’ll only repeat their mistakes of the past.
These are legitimate observations and worth discussing, if only because it has been a great many American’s desire, to break the two parties’ stranglehold the Nation has suffered under for the last century. Indeed half of Americans have stopped participating in elections because they’re discouraged by a two party system, which shows little difference between the Republicans’ and Democrats’ policies.
We’ve been hearing all kinds of fairy tales in the last decade, with themes meant to keep the status quo of the Democrat and Republican stranglehold in place. Democrats spout off about how, Bush stole the election in Florida in 2000 and cry indignantly that he wasn’t really elected because he lost the popular vote. Republicans whine, Bush Sr. lost his reelection because Perot played the spoiler in 1992, though Ross Perot siphoned away an equal amount of votes from both Bush and Clinton and the rest of his votes were cast by disenchanted voters who were not likely to participate at all had Perot not been in the race. But if Republicans recognized this logic, they wouldn’t be able to scare themselves with the hollow fantasy, that a vote for a third party is a vote for a Democrat.
If Republicans truly have this fear, instead of whining, they should back another horse. Obviously they believe in voting for the lesser of two evils and the two evils in their mind are the independents and the Democrats. Bush doesn’t stand a chance because he’s already turned away his base support, so the lesser of two evils that has a chance of winning is the third party candidate. This is a good reason why the time is prime, to look for a compromise between Libertarians, Constitutionalists, Reformers and disenfranchised Republicans.
No one has talked much about the Republicans moving their National Convention to the end of August; their Presidential nomination won’t be final until the first week in September. But it doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to understand how this helps to negate dissent within the conservative wing of the Party. Traditionally, independent Presidential campaigns begin gaining momentum after the Democratic and Republican Conventions have finalized their platform. With the Republicans waiting until a month before the National election to finalize their platform, the Independents have less time to dissimulate it. The Republicans have long understood the ramifications of the party moving in more liberal direction and they are going to use every means possible to negate the dissent of the more intelligent conservatives within the flock.
When our Nation was being formed and the Constitution debated, the policies of today’s Democrats and Republicans would have been laughed out of the forums. The debates of our Founders were more inline with the policies of Constitutionalists and Libertarians. But the Nation will never be able to return to those debates as long as Republicans and Democrats are allowed to dominate the national spotlight with their liberal philosophies. Campaign Finance Reform silencing dissenters prior to elections and the continual move to hold the National Conventions later in the election season are examples of how the major parties are on the run and fear losing their dominance in the political spotlight.
When conservatives unite outside the big tent of the GOP, there’ll be a revolution in America’s political arena. Many believe a revolution has already begun. Never have the people been so disenchanted and disenfranchised by both political parties at the same time, than they are in the current political climate. Never have so many people been so aware of what’s happening on the Nation’s political stage. More than ever before young people are identifying themselves as conservatives. Aging Democrats of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s have a natural tendency to form more conservative values as they mature. There will never be a better opportunity to unite the people in an effort to slow down and turn away from the liberalism that has become a plague in our Nation’s Capitals, than in this election cycle. The idea scares single minded Republicans and Democrats and that fear is a weapon to be harnessed. The more frightened they become the more hyperbolic insults they spew and the more they demonstrate how irrelevant they are towards American’s interests.
Yep, the people of the U.S. see the major Political Parties more and more irrelevant towards their interests with every election cycle. We’ve got them on the run now, there starting to get scared now. There will never be a better chance to run them out of town than we have right now.
A revolution HAS already begun. It's called Free Republic. All we need is a Free Republic candidate.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
With the Republicans waiting until 60 days before the National election to finalize their platform, the Independents have less time to dissimulate it.
Sadly, that's quite the compelling argument these days. If only a third-party (or non-party) candidate who isn't nuts actually ran for President, the electoral equation would change radically.
If you could pick a non-party candidate to run for President, who would it be?
Donkeyphant. It's a donkeyphant.
Matthew... They make think you're giving them hell but the truth of the matter is that with only 3.7% of the vote in 2000 the 3rd parties aren't going to be a player for a long time to come..... Even with your mention of Perot at some 19% of the vote he got zero Electoral College votes and not one Congress seat. Now how do think that after having dropped from a high of 19% of the popular vote in 1992 to only 3.7% in 2000 do you think you have them on the run....
Maybe only in your imagination?
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