Why Not A Constitutionally Conscious Third Party?

Canada Free Press ^ | January 13, 2010 | JB Williams

[sheikdetailfeather]

Based on the fact that neither of the two primary political parties in the U.S. seem to know or care about the very limited constitutional powers of the federal government today, it’s not hard to understand why many American patriots are seeking a silver bullet in the form of a new political party.

But how realistic is that idea, or more accurately stated, is it a dangerous road to go down?

[sheikdetailfeather]

"The Doable Strategy Retaking control of the GOP is possible, because the GOP is in a weakened position today. They are down in number and all but broke in the war chest department. Nearly 50% of Republican precinct chairs were vacant in the 2008 election cycle. I know—most don’t know what a precinct chair is anymore… It means the GOP is vulnerable…"

[Selmore]

you have to go left to get to those people so, no thanks

[nuadvntur]

Simply call it....The Constitutional Party.....that will make it really simple.

[Uncle Miltie]

A: “Ross Perot”

Any other stupid questions?

[Bruinator]

If people are willing to put in the hard work we can make the gop the third party of the future. This is America after all and it wasn’t easy in the beginning and there were naysayers then just as now.

[x_plus_one]

Based on the fact that neither of the two primary political parties in the U.S. seem to know or care about the very limited constitutional powers of the federal government today...

Can you elaborate?

[Fredgoblu]

B. Ralph Nader

The problem is, the third party dilutes the vote-getting ability of the party they're most closely associated with...which is political suicide in our winner-take-all electoral system.

[Sopater]

How about:

[Sopater]

The problem is, the third party dilutes the vote-getting ability of the party they're most closely associated with...which is political suicide in our winner-take-all electoral system.

Well, there has to be some method of keeping the "party they're most closely associated with" in line.

[Dick Bachert]

Howard Phillips gave that a shot years ago. Not enough interest to keep it going. GOOOH MAY have a better chance now that Obowzo has shoved his leftist tyranny right up into our faces and we can see what it REALLY looks like.

[sheikdetailfeather]

The Rise of American Big Government: A Brief History of How We Got Here

http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2009-fall/rise-of-american-big-government.asp

[Sherman Logan]

There has never been a successful third party in American history. Even the GOP only came about because the previously existing “second party,” the Whigs, fell apart.

The GOP was formed by a merger of northern Whigs, anti-slavery Democrats, the Know-Nothing Party, and other factions.

We have had parties disappear, of course. The Federalists disappeared by the 1820s, leaving only the Democrat/Republican party, which later split into the Democrats and the Whigs.

[JimRed]

Sadly, nothing would delight the RATs more than splitting the right into warring factions. We have to take back the GOP from the RINOs.

[glide625]

Just a thought.......it might work If and only If, the Democrat party were two split into two parties, Moderate and Marxist; then we’d have four parties Dem/Repbub (Rhino) and a Right Wing Party and a Left Wing Communist party.

[Matchett-PI]

Google Results 1 - 10 of about 17,500 for j b williams a conspiracy theorist?

http://tinyurl.com/ydbes7s

[ansel12]

This is the list of current existing political parties in America, the “Constitution Party” already exists.

Democratic Party (1828 modern, 1792 historic)
Republican Party (1854)
Libertarian Party (1971)
Constitution Party (1992)
Green Party (1996)
America First Party (2002)
America’s Independent Party (2008)
Boston Tea Party (2006)
Independence Party of America (2007)
Jefferson Republican Party (2006)
Moderate Party (2006)
Libertarian Party (2008)
Marijuana Party (2002)
Party for Socialism and Liberation (2004)
Peace and Freedom Party (1967) - active primarily in California
Prohibition Party (1867)
Reform Party of the United States of America (1995) - currently divided into two factions both using the name of the “Reform Party”
Socialist Equality Party (1953)
Socialist Party USA (1973)
Socialist Workers Party (1938)
Unity Party of America (2004)
Workers World Party (1959)
Working Families Party (1998)
American 3rd Party (1990’s)
American Party (1969)
American Heritage Party (2000)
American Reform Party (1997)
Communist Party USA (1919)
Federalist National Party (2008)
Freedom Road Socialist Organization (1986)
Freedom Socialist Party (1966)
Independent American Party (1998)
Labor Party (1995)
Libertarian National Socialist Green Party (1997)
Modern Whig Party (2007)
National Socialist Movement (1974)
New American Independent Party (2004)
New Black Panther Party (1989)
New Union Party (1974)
Populist Party of America (2002)
Progressive Labor Party (1961)
Ray O. Light Group (1961)
Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (1975)
Scabbard Party (U.S.) (1998)
Socialist Action (1983)
Socialist Alternative (1986)
Socialist Labor Party (1876)
Unity08 (2006)
Veterans Party (2003)
Workers Party, USA
World Socialist Party of the United States (1916)

[BunnySlippers]

I am shocked at how few people know what is in the Constitution ... or CARE!

If you do not value what you have, you will lose it.

[caww]

Thank you for this list...makes a statement.

So what number would yet another 3rd party be in 2010? Just don’t think 3rd party is the answer as your list evidences.

[Deb]

More garbage.

[Defiant]

We are stuck with a two party system because of the winner take all nature of our elections. It is simple game theory; no other system would exist. I will explain briefly.

Assume 4 parties, A, B, C and D, getting 35, 25, 20 and 20 percent of the vote. Suppose the parties are listed in order of conservative to liberal on the spectrum (conservative, moderate, liberal and socialist). OK, now the gamesmanship begins. A wins all the elections. That is until C and D look around and say, "Hey, screw this, let's join forces and beat A. Party CD now has 40 percent of the vote.

After getting pounded a while, A looks over to B and says, "Look, what I can say to make you like me a little?". Eventually, A and B find enough common ground to join forces so they can win again, and we are back to 2 parties.

It works for however many parties you want to theorize. They ally and ally until you are down to 2.

The way to get all of what you want, instead of being a two party system of allied factions, you have to win the battle of ideas. Capture the party, expand it to include all of the people who you can stomach, and then convince those people that your ideas are the right ones. Then grow the party to be larger by picking off some of the other party. This is what Reagan did to the Republican party. Obama and the left have tried to do the same thing to the Dem party, except they have not yet convinced their own party to join them on the far left "D" side, and so some of the "C"s are looking at joining the AB side.

Having said that, I think in the current circumstances the best way for conservatives to have their voice heard is to have a party within the party. The GOP is clearly working overtime to prevent conservatives from having the influence that their numbers should have. They keep them out of top positions, and the skew the primaries so that a "moderate" is favored in gaining the nomination, and thus control of the national party. It is front loaded with liberal states and open primary states. They consistently support the moderate over the conservative.

To counter this, I think we need to form a conservative group of some kind in which we:

1. Join, giving us conservative credentials;
2. Participate;
3. Come up with policy positions that we support.
4. The members of the conservative group (the Conservative Forum?) would pledge to abide by the decisions of the party members with respect to elections.

A month or two before every primary, the Conservative Forum would select its candidate for the primary. If there are more than one candidates with an interest, then that state's Conservative Forum will either hold an election or select the candidate in whatever way the members decide. They could, for example, hold an annual convention.

The winner would then be the candidate of the forum in the primary, and if he/she wins the primary, in the general election.

If a non-conservative candidate wins the Republican primary, the Conservative forum can then decide whether to support that candidate in the general election, or to run its candidate, or to not provide support at all. In most cases, they would probably support the Republican nominee, but not in all (Specter, Chafee, Snowe, for example.)

By throwing its weight around in this way, the GOP will be required to respond to conservatives, and conservatives will be able to martial their forces to maximize their influence. Candidates will seek the conservative seal of approval, and will be less likely to leave the reservation, the way that so many of them do after being elected as conservatives (Linseed Graham). Pulling the support of the Conservative Forum will be the death knell for candidates in some states, and so we can hold their feet to the fire.

I've been pushing this idea for a while, and was hoping that Sarah Palin was thinking about doing something along these lines when she left her office.