A Third Political Party? How About 100?

Do Americans Want A Third Choice?

The following op-ed piece asks if we need a third political party in American politics. The question is a valid approach, but I wonder why we should stop at a third party. Why shouldn't we remove the stranglehold that the two major parties have on our political process and allow a fuller, broader view of the political ideologies to come into view? Let us open up the election process so that we do not have primaries based upon which party a voter "belongs" to (as if that really matters, the political machine decides who will run). Instead, why don't we have primaries where the parties are declared, but the primaries are conducted to produce a three-way runoff in the general election. The three top vote-getters in the primary are moved forward into the general election. Then, in the general election the candidate with the most votes wins the office.

While we're at it, let us get rid of the electoral college for the presidential races. It has become a corrupt and perverse system of elitism and has been a flaw in the manner of thought coming out of our framers. We should, now that we have such a large population, allow the one person-one vote standard be the rule in every election.

The Republicans often cite the need for competition in the economy. They claim competition brings out the best products and processes. Then let us apply those very principles to the political process and allow real competition back into our system... Maybe then we might find candidates worth voting for instead of voting against someone as we have all been doing for the last 4 decades.

Have Americans reached the point that they want another choice in politics? Have the Democrat and Republican parties alienated mainstream voters so much that they'd prefer a viable alternative?

It's not such an outlandish idea. How many times have you gone to the polls and felt neither of the two choices truly represented your beliefs and concerns?

Driven by extremists and special interests within their parties, Democrats and Republicans are so busy going after one another they seem to have forgotten the interests of the American people. They're more intent on undermining each other than truly dealing with issues, which they use as launching pads for assaults against one another. Resolving issues takes a back seat to one-upmanship.

There are those in both the Democratic and Republican parties who also are as dissatisfied with the direction they're going as are the American people. They've seen their parties hijacked by the extreme wings and power placed in the hands of what's become a ruling elite who have polarized the parties, and polarized Americans and their government.

In a column Thursday in the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan touches on that topic and the potential for the rise of a third party in American politics. There always have been attempts to create a third party through the country's history, an alternative choice. Most have failed, not proven viable, or simply never stood a chance for serious consideration.

Ms. Noonan, a Reagan administration insider, cites Ross Perot's third-party endeavor as the last potentially viable effort, until he "destabilized himself" and his party. She thinks the time may be ripe for another attempt to offer American voters a third-party alternative because of the polarization created not between Republicans and Democrats, but between the parties and the voters.

"There is an increasing and profound distance between the rulers of both parties and the people — between the elites and the grunts, between those in power and those who put them there," wrote Ms. Noonan.

Traditionally, Americans tend to settle in the middle, gravitating toward moderates who are willing to address issues on behalf of the people. On that middle ground there is compromise, there is give-and-take, there is a willingness to work together for the common good.

But in the battle of liberal against conservative, the moderate is missing in action. The dominant attitude in Washington on both sides is, "It's my way, or the highway." That may have worked for Patrick Swayze in the movies, but it accomplishes nothing in government.

Given a legitimate third option, Americans are likely to listen to an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans. Given their dissatisfaction with the direction of their parties, moderate Republicans and Democrats likely would welcome the opportunity to emerge from the shadow of extremism. This could be fertile ground to plant third-party seeds.

Already there's an organization on the Internet, Unity '08, which is trying to create a grassroots third-party movement. Among its founders are Hamilton Jordan from the Carter administration and Doug Bailey from the Ford administration, along with others from both sides of the aisle. Among its goals is fielding a third-party alternative for the 2008 presidential race.

Whether Unity '08 stands a chance obviously remains to be seen, but the fact that Americans are disheartened by the way politics and government are going is quite clear. If ever there were conditions favorable

for the rise of a viable third political party in America, the time is now.