As I look through the political landscape it seems more and more that a third party is necessary. The Reform party seemed like a good one .. but it did not defend itself from infiltration and destruction all the Republicans did was send in the religious right to join enmass. . then totally make it into a laughing stock 1. A Third party needs to solidify its planks and make them ridgit to protect against such foolishness I notice the GREENs and the LIBERTARIANS . . or whoever Why is it they only seem to run for President. . who was the GREEN Candidate for the At Large Council Seat? Who was the Libertarian Candidate for Mayor of Houston? How many of each are in the State Senate? 2. A Third parties need to stop trying to hit the HOME RUN . . .their is no way in the blue h*ll you gonna get voted President when you don't even hold a senate seat. You have no local or state representations. The idea that you can catch lightning in a bottle and become president Rocket River
IMO, a third party needs to solidify its base before it tries to actually run candidates. In our two-party system, a third party controlling even 5-10% of the voters can have more power than either of the major parties as the swing vote between the two party's candidates. We would also need to have a platform that is committed to reforming the problems with the two party system. Personally, I would like a third party to focus on things like campaign finance reform (or total elimination), tax reform (flat tax or consumption tax to replace the income tax), and term limits. If the "Middle Party" (my pet name for a third party based on compromise and collegiality in politics) controlled 10% of the vote, then the Democrats nad Republicans would have to bow and scrape to us in order to get our votes. If they over promised and under delivered, we could axe them in the next election.
Most Major thing is they need to build a RECORD and a reputation. They have to DO THE WORK Locally Statewide and then beyond Grassroots Rocket River
1. Get a powerful member in your party to go in a different direction from the norm. 2. Invoke the extremists in the party to follow your direction 3. get people on your staff that follow your ideology, put them in key positions 4. hope other members in the part don't notice and will follow like sheep. 5. Profit! And that's how we have three parties today: Republicans, Democrats and Neo-conservatives.
The history of third parties in this country reflects the way the country is structured... if you have a third party with decent ideas, one of the two established parties will eventually coopt the ideas. If you have a third party based on a personality, as soon as that personality loses interest, dies, or is compromised, the party falls apart. The only way we'll have a truly powerful third party is when one of the two major parties begins to disintegrate and reform, like the Whigs into Republicans... then we'll be back to two parties again. I am not optimistic that there will ever be a long-term third party that is capable of challenging the other two. If you're really upset with the way things are going, pick a party and start working to change it into something you can live with.
The problem with recent history is that the party was run by an egomaniac. ross perot tapped into something in 92 that could have been followed up on with fresh personalities. the guy, perot, was kind of off from the start and look what he accomplished.
Fool's gambit. One party will usurp the third party platform and reap the benefits. See Gingrich's Contract For America.
Not sure i'd be too worried about the established parties taking all the good ideas. Afterall...if they are good ideas -- that would be a good thing, no? The bigger concern is vote splitting. Imagine 2004 again...only the anti-Bush sprinkled their vote between two parties. The result is a much bigger mandate for the one party many of those wanted to defeat. Some argue that Nader helped the GOP in 2000 -- yet many of his supporters would likely prefer a Dem to a Rep. Rim's right. Change has to come from within parties. The primaries and leadups are your multi-party system -- determining which policies the party will embrace. It would be a lot more fun to vote 'none of the above' but it doesn't work that way.
the problem with the two parties we have is that they are not really parties. at least not parties i want to attend. i think we should have a third party with hot chicks, awesome bands and kegs flowing.
I agree for a third part to even become respectable they need to start from the bottom up. Local politics like Mayors, City supervisors, then maybe Gov's, and House or Rep. Then maybe they can play with the big boys on the National scale as Senators and hopefully someday Pres. J
3 largest hurdles.... Eliminate the Electoral College Force term limits Reduce congressional Gerrymandering privledges
An old friend of mine in Houston was an English guy, about twenty or thirty years older than me. He'd been involved in radical politics in England in his youth and belonged to the Cocktail Party.
This third party talk is a lot of grass is always greener stuff. I'd love for any of the self-identified moderates/independents in this thread to name one issue on which the DNC is too far left. I sincerely doubt you can. I'm not especially happy with the Democrats and I deplore the current GOP, but it's silly to think there's a third way that would actually please you guys which is only being prevented by party machinery. Both major parties have proven they're more than willing to sell out their core values in order to win. That's got everything to do with the contemporary cult of the "moderate." The major parties - especially the Democrats, with the DLC and all - have already done everything they could dream up to try to appeal to the largest group of people possible. You guys don't want a third party -- you just want to register your disgust with the two parties we have. There are plenty of third parties already. If one were to gain prominence, the exact same people here would be calling for a fourth party. It's just an opportunity to project your values onto an unknown quantity while repeating the tired old mantra that all the people currently in power are bums. I defy any self-identified moderate that tilts even the slightest to the left here to find an issue-based objection to the Democratic Party. I'm not a moderate, so I have plenty of issue-based objections to them but if you are a left leaning moderate I can't imagine how you could take issue with them wrt the issues. On the other hand, I can completely understand where right leaning moderates would be frustrated. As it stands the Democratic party is their best bet as well, wrt the issues, which must be a real pill.
