So what is my purpose in doing this? I mean, aside from a platform, what do I actually hope to accomplish? Well, I am not connected, so I have no hope of influencing large numbers of people that way, nor am I wealthy (the real way you influence things) and even if I someday become such, it takes decades to truly change things, nor am I tremendously charismatic, so swaying large amounts of people by weight of my personality alone won’t do much. All the reason skills in the universe never swayed anyone to the truth when it came to politics, not really in my observation. There are a handful of individuals who even truly attempt this and of those that mostly succeed at it, even they occasionally allow emotion or superstition to influence their actions.
We are human beings, we are not machines.
But there are two things I *DO* do very well. I am very good at analyzing the meta level of a situation, the larger term consequences of actions and patterns of history, and I am also good at coming up with ideas. And that, despite all of the ground work I’ve laid up to this point, is why I’m doing this. Concrete actual ideas to help and empower anyone else out there who MIGHT read this, and might be able to use one of these ideas.
There is a quote from Heinlein I like a lot. “An armed society is a polite society.” Conversely, the more ideas that work that people out there have, the more likely actual change is to take effect.
So first let me explain my perspective of third parties. Those who say, “We need a third party” typically have multiple motivations, and that motivation should affect your tactical action.
1) A disgust with the way things are done in Washington: If you truly desire to effect change, you need to ask yourself, is the change more important or is the third party? IE do you care if your idea is adopted by one of the two parties or do you insist that your third party of choice, existing or non-existing gets it done?
2) Snowflakism: Many of those who say that they want a third party are really either snowflakes or road kill who have no real ideology, or simply a vague ideology of one of the other two parties and don’t want change. And if so, no amount of convincing will change their mind, because fixing things isn’t really their desire.
3) A true desire to form a third party that governs: That’s rarer. But why? I mean, why do you REALLY want said third party?
Third Parties or independent candidates are best in this country at changing the debate. They have been most successful at adding ideas that people hadn’t previously considered, and that one of the two parties thought was such a good idea that they took it up and implemented it.
So I would argue that if your true desire is to change something, you’re really better off finding ways outside of a party, which is logistically a very difficult undertaking and takes DECADES to do properly.
Here is a brief history of my view of third parties in this country:
Major Successes
The Republican Party: Mainly because they were a third party that became one of the two major parties. The circumstances required to do this required an implosion of one of the two major parties (the Whigs) and a titanic social issue (Slavery) that united two disparate factions in the common cause of defeating the Democrats and changing things. At first these factions fought each other TREMENDOUSLY but over time some common elements of their platform emerged, but really these wings fought with each other until 1994 when the ‘moderate business faction’ began to die its final death. It is now an empty shell in the undead elephant.
Minor Successes
The Libertarian Party: The Libertarian Party has never, so far as I know, won a major election since its inception. In fact, honestly, I’d consider the Libertarian party a joke except for two exceptional facts: 1) It is, so far as I can tell, in EVERY state in the country, and most jurisdictions and has been for several decades and 2) ½ the Libertarian ideology has been successfully reborn in the Tea Party, and the Tea Party has been a remarkable success. The Tea Party is a Movement, not a party, and as a Movement, their message is winning. They might not think that, it might not last, but they are nonetheless. Having a complete wimp for a president helps that success.
The Bull Moose Party: The Force of Nature in a human being, aka Teddy Roosevelt, aka my favorite president after Washington (who had the guts to refuse a crown and give away power when he didn’t have to) started this party after the human Blimp that was William Taft crapped all over the good that TR had done in his tenure, and started acting a lot like the more normal Republican party I know and loathe today. The Bull Moose Party had all kinds of ideas for reform, most of which were taken up by the Democrats…and put into place in later reforms. So while they never won power or had staying power, their ideas lived on.
So, if you’re REALLY serious about a third party, let’s consider:
1) WHY is the existence of a third party needed for the prof-ligation of your ideas to fix everything?
2) Are you prepared to actually put together a governing coalition?
Both of these are important. I argue that my biggest problem with the libertarians (well there is another but I’ll do that in another post) is that they are in complete denial of #2. I mean, they make no real efforts at finding policies that people are actually going to want. They insult the government a lot, but they offer very few realistic ideas to solve problems. I have a friend that has ideas, but really, last I checked he isn’t the head of a Libertarian party somewhere.
And to be honest I have the same issue with the Greens. Aside from the horror stories I’ve heard of small, petty minded people who control local chapters more for their own aggrandizement than actually accomplishing anything I also take umbrage with their refusal to unite with the Democrats to replace Bush in 2004. In parliamentary systems you form coalitions.
So even if we change the rules to make third parties easier in this country (something I’m all for) is your party REALLY serious about governing or are they anarchist nihilists like the Tea Party?
I mean, I hope the Tea Party realizes that this country doesn’t really tolerate terrorists for too long. I mean, I know some people will be upset by that, but pointing a gun at the head of the country and its credit or pretending that the credit rating doesn’t matter when you KNOW it does (unless you’re naive or willfully ignorant) is pretty much terrorism. And only wimps give in to terrorism.
What would the Tea Party have done if we didn't have Carter II in the White House?
And I, for one am done with the wimps that lead the Democratic party…so I’m willing to empower the Libertarians, or the Greens or anyone else for that matter that will take out the Rush/Beck Republicans and the Clinton Democrats. And I’ve got ideas.
But you have to be serious.
You have to REALLY want to change things, but as I explained in my road map, in my observation only a handful are.
Soon, in my next post or one soon after that, I’ll explain in my observation the tools and circumstances that it will take to really accomplish that.
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