Time for a Viable Third Party - Peggy Noonan

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TheBluesMan

Moderator Emeritus
Third Time
America may be ready for a new political party.

PEGGY NOONAN

Thursday, June 1, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

Something's happening. I have a feeling we're at some new beginning, that a big breakup's coming, and that though it isn't and will not be immediately apparent, we'll someday look back on this era as the time when a shift began.

All my adult life, people have been saying that the two-party system is ending, that the Democrats' and Republicans' control of political power in America is winding down. According to the traditional critique, the two parties no longer offer the people the choice they want and deserve. Sometimes it's said they are too much alike--Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Sometimes it's said they're too polarizing--too red and too blue for a nation in which many see things through purple glasses.

In 1992 Ross Perot looked like the breakthrough, the man who would make third parties a reality. He destabilized the Republicans and then destabilized himself. By the end of his campaign he seemed to be the crazy old aunt in the attic.

The Perot experience seemed to put an end to third-party fever. But I think it's coming back, I think it's going to grow, and I think the force behind it is unique in our history.

- - - - - - - - - - - -​

This week there was a small boomlet of talk about a new internet entity called Unity '08--a small collection of party veterans including moderate Democrats (former Carter aide Hamilton Jordan) and liberal-leaning Republicans (former Ford hand Doug Bailey) trying to join together with college students and broaden the options in the 2008 election. In terms of composition, Unity seems like the Concord Coalition, the bipartisan group (Warren Rudman, Bob Kerrey) that warns against high spending and deficits.

Unity seems to me to have America's growing desire for more political options right. But I think they've got the description of the problem wrong.

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Read the rest of her excellent article here: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/
 
I would vote for a third party, as a long time republican voter it is a change, but we have no choice in my opinion our present system is failing.
 
I think a better move now would be to throw out the incumbents - and I don't care which party they're from. A message needs to be delivered to these clowns and the best one is "you're not qualified to represent me any longer". This - IMHO - would be a good place to start.
 
Agreed. I would vote for the Constitution Party as they seem to offer more conservative Constitutional solutions to problems....but they didn't even appear on the ballot of my state last Presidential election.

I gave up on the republicans 8 or 9 years ago, stopped listening to Rush and stopped listening to Bush. I hadn't changed, they did. They were moving to the left

Anyone remember the last time you heard a Republican talk about "smaller government"? I think it was back in the mid 1990s when they got control of the House and Senate. Remember "The Contract with America"??? Nothing ever came of any of that. Instead the government grew. Back then we had Bill and Hillary talking about socialized medicine. Now we have our Republican president talking about it among other liberal things. Back then we complained about Clinton bombing and sending troops into foreign countries in the name of "freedom" and "democracy"....but it's okay for Geo. W. Bush to do it. As long as it is a Republican doing it then we are okay. In many ways, the democrats/liberals were better than the Republicans....at least you know where they stood and they were consistant in their leftist beliefs.:rolleyes:
 
Middle of the road? Both parties are way off somewhere off the left side of the road with the republicans trailing right behind the democrats heading up into the wild
 
We need a new voting system. The current plurality+runoff voting system used for just about all U.S. elections -- for all the benefits of its simplicity -- makes a 2-party system inescapable, long-term.
 
There is a new Party that, to me, makes the most sense and has the best probability of success in a field that,to date, has had limited success - a third Party. Take a good look at the Unity Party at www.unity08.org , I think you will like what you see.
 
Agreed. I would vote for the Constitution Party as they seem to offer more conservative Constitutional solutions to problems....but they didn't even appear on the ballot of my state last Presidential election.
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Doug, +1 on the Constitution Party.

I vote Constitution Party when there's a candidate, and Republican when there is not. We need more people like you! Does your state allow write in ballots? You could find our via the web who is running and write his name in.

http://www.constitutionparty.com/
 
tegemu, I'm not sure how I feel about unity08. On one hand, it's true that the person matters more than the (nonexistent) platform. On the other, the person in this case is selected by something like majority vote, and I have no confidence that the selectee will be particularly worthy, even if the process seems nice, fair, and reasonable.

Constitution Party? :rolleyes:

I think I'm going to stop voting in protest of the current plurality voting system. It's a disaster, and it's why my first choice (Libertarian) candidates never have a chance.
 
I think I'm going to stop voting in protest of the current plurality voting system. It's a disaster, and it's why my first choice (Libertarian) candidates never have a chance.
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I don't believe I'm hearing this! Why give up? Don't you think that you're vote makes a statement?
 
When people say "viable third party", I wonder sometimes if they mean "major third party as an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans", or something smaller to create a spoiler and have an impact on how one of the major parties conducts its business. American history has been none to kind to a true trilateral party arrangement, in which the three parties are equal opponents.

Frankly, the idea of one party that ostensibly represents the "interests of the people" against the "interests of the government" frightens me some, in that great potential for a tyranny of the majority lies in it.

That was an interesting article, though. Thanks for posting it.
 
Bender, as much as it pains me to say it, the LP is not viable to the majority of voters. Conservatives hate them because they want to relegalise drugs and keep religion separate from government, and liberals hate them because they're pro-gun and anti-tax.
 
Coinneach is right. There is no viable third party right now in the minds of most Americans. The Libertarian Party is the closest to my beliefs politically, but they have plenty of planks in their platform that I don't agree with. Likewise, the Constitution Party ruffles feathers of those who don't like religion and government mixed. Unity08 will just give us a combination of the parties that we're sick of.

What's the answer?

-Dave
 
I don't think there's an answer, other than a better election system, at which point the issue of "wasting a vote" on a third party will cease to be an issue, and more people might a) pay attention to 3rd parties, and b) vote for 3rd parties.
 
Every election year there is talk of changing the voting system. Every time they just sort of forget about it. The system got the people in power elected, they don't want to mess that up.
 
The incumbents in both parties have no respect for us or our concerns. I say throw them every last one of them out.
 
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