Posted on 10/14/2013 5:31:00 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Since 2008, the idea of third parties started to gain more popularity across America. Principled conservatives and libertarians united against both the Democrat and Republican establishment started to explore methods of opposing Washington elites and the status quo.
The Tea Party had some success – and has continued most successfully – with primary campaigns which put principled people like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul in races as the Republican candidate. Once they won the GOP nomination, winning the general election was often pretty straightforward.
Yet many liberty activists have become disenchanted by the two party system and are turning to other options. Third parties have been the other option, employed for a variety of reasons both practical and ideological for many voters.
Third parties are becoming more popular in the U.S.
In 2012, both the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party executed impressive grassroot campaigns to get their candidates on the ballot in most states. Both parties created milestones by debating each other on a national stage, the first ever third party presidential debate, moderated by Larry King. In this historic event, many Americans heard their message for the first time, while streaming live over the internet. Third parties around the country are gaining momentum because there is a growing outcry for real political change and people want more options than just a two party system in American.
In 2010, for instance, the American Constitution Party earned major party status in Colorado when its gubernatorial candidate earned more votes than GOP candidate Dan Maes. After Maes suffered a series of scandals, it became apparent he could not win, and he refused to drop out of the race. His primary opponent, Tom Tancredo, who had stayed on the ballot as the ACP candidate, quickly became more popular, and may have won if Maes hadn't siphoned just enough votes away to seal a victory for Democrat John Hickenlooper.
It's in this environment that the Ohio State Senate has passed this bill which would essentially eliminate all third party candidates from ballots. In the bill, only candidates from parties which earned 3% or more of the vote in a presidential election would be placed on the ballot; all other candidates would be write-in options. Newly qualifying parties must also submit petitions with at least 55,809 valid signatures.
The bill would, in many ways, solidify the placement of the Democrat and Republican parties at the center of American politics. Voters must look up and remember the names – something which should be simple but many people simply vote party line, and this will create a discrepancy amongst parties – and write-in candidates must apply to be counted. Write-in votes are also counted much more slowly than others, if at all, meaning they will not be discussed in the initial analysis of election results.
In addition, many third parties choose to build support by running in small, local campaigns before progressing to expensive and challenging presidential elections, but the Ohio bill only bases its judgment on presidential elections. Any third party candidate from a party which chooses to focus its limited time and money on winnable campaigns would be at an immediate disadvantage.
Many Americans who want limited government are dissatisfied with both parties. They feel there is no real opposition party that seeks a responsible fiscal policy. Establishment Republicans are threatened by the growing competition from tea party supporters and liberty activists who are say they may support a third-party challenger to incumbent moderate Republicans.
A statement from the Libertarian Party of Ohio's website says, "The bottom line is that the John Kasich Re-election Protection Act would disenfranchise every Ohio voter by taking away their right to vote for a candidate for governor other than a) John Kasich, a governor who has miserably failed the state of Ohio and betrayed millions of fiscal conservatives who expected him to follow Ohio law and oppose Obamacare, or b) the nominee of the other big-government party who is promising to double down on most of Kasich's failing policies."
If Ohio's proposed law passes, it will be yet another rule which helps the establishment maintain power. The Ohio bill will have a similar effect of creating different standards for different candidates in America's democratic process.
If Kasich doesn’t veto this, VETO HIM!!!!!
ping
Ghost of SVR4
Since Jun 3, 2013
retread?
Claims to be a longtime lurker, but just joined. I personally doubt it. I looked at history and he seems to like attacking conservatives.
Come off like a classic troll.
“I like you Rush, I am a conservative Republican and I am a loongtine listener, BUUT!”
Bush’s fault, too!
This is a clear violation of the right of free association.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3078940/posts?page=48#48
Been lurking for 13 years or reading 13 year old comments, or just so new it doesn’t know the posting history is an open book. Idiot troll.
What’s Ohio a’skeered of?
Oh, that’s right - We The People shed ourselves of the Whigs...and they fear we’re gunnin’ for the current crop of RINOS, next!
*SMIRK*
My sentiment exactly.
Reading what others say about the past, or looking back at past comments.
Or maybe he is a troll who got zapped for in the past and then keeps changing names and rejoining to attack conservatives.
In my almost 19 years I have seen them all.
It is a sad case for uis on the right. We constantly eat our own and wonder why good people are afraid to run for office.
One mistake, or a few, and we make them walk the plank. Then we toss blood into the water make sure the sharks eat them up good.
Can’t Ohioans start a recall of one or two of those that voted for it?
Definition of a 13 year lurker:
An anaerobic organism or anaerobe is any organism that does not require oxygen for growth. It may react negatively or even die if oxygen is present, which means that it can perform its bodily functions better in the absence of oxygen.
so it’s either anaerobic or a recurring infection.
bump
I think the barriers to ballot access are ridiculous
Thanks for the ping!
Hannity has some real problems, but it is not lack of intent, He just does not appear to be terribly smart and he totally misapprehends the 2nd Amendment.I had to quit listening to him because he so often misses a caller’s point and ends a call thinking he has won an argument but he has actually missed the point of the call by 180 degrees or he has given the caller his argument without seeming to understand that he has done so, usually because he missed the point in the first place. I found myself far too often yelling at the radio trying to get him to understand what a caller has said.
That’s true, but there’s a huge disconnect that doesn’t matter between the Dem bigs and their base. The Dem bigs just want money to pay off their base. The base doesn’t care who gets screwed (including themselves), as long as the headlines say that they’re getting “free stuff” paid for by white males.
Look at the economic stats on black americans in the age of Obama. Under every rubric of economic interest to a person, blacks have gone *backwards* in economic stance under Obama’s administrations. And there is nothing pointing to that changing.
Do blacks take notice and start yelling? Nope. There is a black guy in the White House, and that’s all they seem to care about. Never mind that lost job. Never mind that lost health care benefit. Never mind that Obamacare is going to take extra money out of your paycheck. Never mind all of that. Obama isn’t white, and that’s all that matters.
LOL, good one.
I’ll remember that.
I don’t think it is rally a “uniparty.” It is more like the Republican Party is a Division in the Democrat Party whose purpose is to act as an Opposition and designated scapegoat.
Exactly. His heart might be in the right place, but Hannity is just dumb as a post. Hannity is like a draft horse: not terribly mentally agile, but he pulls in the direction you point him real well, so you keep him around.
And so the GOP-e does.
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