2018 Election Update: Libertarian Party Now the Major Third Party
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At the beginning of 2013 I analyzed the potential
for a broad-based third party in American politics [1], taking as my model the
extraordinary, albeit temporary, 2008 coalescence of third parties engineered
by Dr. Ron Paul [2]. I also considered the Gallop Poll that, for decades, has
asked whether a third major party was supported by the voters:
For
generations Americans were taught that the “two party system” was a necessary
part of American politics. And a strong majority always supported the “system.”
The cross-over point was 2006/07.
This occurred as the
TEA Party coalition came together and gave the (G)OP control of Congress; since
then, a majority has always wanted a third major choice. Considering the cost
of launching another third major party, I urged the formation of Liberty
Electoral Alliances among the existing third parties…
But first, back to Ron Paul and the top unreported
political action of 2008. I wrote then:
“In a
significant breakthrough for the American political system, what Dr. Ron Paul
has called the "principled third parties" have challenged the US
"two party" oligopoly, calling for a restoration of the constitutional
republic and rejecting the US empire.
The statement was jointly written by Dr. Paul and the four third party
campaigns for President … [Libertarian, Green, Constitutional, Independent].
The Statement challenges the "two" tax-supported party system which
has dominated US politics in recent decades and rejects the joint policies of
the Democrats and Republicans that, in this blogger's opinion, have contributed
so centrally to the crisis facing the nation.”
That is why I thought the next logical step was the
alliance model, and so in 2013 I wrote,
“When the (G)OP
changed its rules after the Primaries to marginalize the TEA Party, by
not even allowing Ron Paul's name to be put in nomination, it sealed its fate.
Hundreds of thousands of "new blood" activists left that party. Three
million less people voted for that party in '12 as in '08. The (G)OP lost a
presidential race it should have easily won because it rejected the TEA Party
activists and has new rules to make sure "we" never wrest control of
that tax-eater party from its tax-eating establishment.
So we are left
with several "Third Parties" that represent views "on the right'
from Conservative to Libertarian.
I suspect, due
to monopolistic political funding laws and regulations that erect
"barriers against entry," it will not be possible to construct yet
another new "major" (read: "tax-supported") party to
challenge the (G)OP, so we need to consider how the existing political
groupings can best move toward an electoral alliance.
I propose, not a new party, but rather an Independent Electoral Alliance. The Conservative
and the Libertarian Parties have different strengths in different parts of the
country. It should be possible to bring these parties together with joint
candidates in some areas, leading to a joint presidential race in the future.”
And now we
come to the election year of 2016.
The third party trend has continued. In September
2015, Gallop noted, “Arguably, the U.S. political climate has been ripe for the
emergence of a major third party for some time, but that hasn't yet happened.”
[3] “Why?” one might ask.
That was before the Trump Election Reality Show and the
perhaps not surprising disruptions of a “major party” political rally by
protesters a couple days ago… in Chicago… for the first time since 1968. I do
not know if Mr. Trump will succeed in his hostile take-over of the (G)OP,
against the wishes of its management.
I strongly suspect that only an
indictment could stop Mrs. Clinton from gaining the Demos nomination. She will
probably be the next president, despite being unliked, untrusted, and suspected
of corruption. She is, however, a big-government, big-spending, Big Pharma,
Federal Reserve-protecting supporter of nearly every foreign intervention and
every bailout, so quite acceptable to the political establishment. But, then
again, so, to a significant extent are Senator Sanders, Senators Cruz and
Rubio, and Mr. Trump. And he has shown willingness to use government force,
under the evil Kelo Decision, for personal gain. Maybe he is not as
anti-establishment as he appears on the Trump Election Reality Show. Though I do salute him for his principled stand against vaccine mandates, a strong anti-establishment position [http://tinyurl.com/InformedConsentPetition].
It appears every billionaire from Bloomberg to
McAfee and beyond are threatening to run third party campaigns. It is rumored
that billionaires Soros and the Kochs are each searching for suitable suits to
be their front man or woman. They all smell an opportunity to extend their
brands, with the stench of decay pervading the still-warm corpse of the (G)OP.
However, it won’t be that easy to translate their
mega bucks into pollster inclusion, ballot position or national debate access.
The restrictions built into the “controlled democracy” that America has become
(from the limited, federal republic it was) make it very difficult to challenge
the “two” tax-eater party political duopoly.
For example, the way the (G)OP rules were changed in
2012 will make it impossible for any “dark horse” candidate to be considered by
the convention. Currently a candidate must have a majority (not just a plurality)
of the votes in eight states to be eligible to have his name placed in
nomination. And if not in nomination on the first ballot, there is no existing
rule provision for new candidates to be included. That likely means a
deadlocked (G)OP convention, with one side or the other walking out.
And
not a moment too soon.
I thought, back in ’74, President Nixon’s abuse of
power had finally kicked the corpse of the (G)OP the last time and that tax-eater
party was going to go the way of the Whigs. Alas,
not yet. The (G)OP had a couple more wars left in it after all… in
cooperation with the Demos… and a couple more booms and their consequent busts
(each getting bigger and bigger…).
The corruption of the “two party” political
oligarchy has become so clear: the inability of the DC elite to deal with the
Federal Debt and resulting collapse of the Dollar; the tragic failure to learn
the lesson of endless foreign intervention (the lesson the that Founders’
policy of non-intervention is the only
foreign policy consistent with a free republic) together are dooming the elite.
They know they face the abyss… and the “unwashed
masses” they fear are the best armed civilians on the planet. Will DC send in
the marines, or the heavily armed alphabet agency secret police forces? We
suspect we know where the federalized police forces will stand. But where will
the professional soldiers stand? Keeping their Oaths or against our liberties?
IMHO,
the only way to save America from another civil war is to do exactly the
opposite of what the elite did in 1860. DC must let go. DC must learn
humility and humanity. Return the western lands to the states. Withdraw from
the hundreds of unsustainable military bases around the world. Stop
manipulating the money supply and interest rates. Stop spying on patriotic
Americans. The elite must give up their false
enterprise of empire.
It’s been a good empire for them. For the first time in American history the highest paid population
communities are no longer the upper middle class suburbs around the main city market
centers; rather, they are the counties directly surrounding DC, filled with its
minions. The rest of the country is being hollowed-out; left to dry-up; allowed
to decay.
For the first time in centuries the cohort of
middle-aged white men (presumed to be the privileged) are not living longer
than their fathers [4]. Consider that the USSR collapsed when Russian men in
their prime were dying younger and younger.
“What
is to be done?” Lenin famously asked. His answer, terror and dictatorship, is always the
grasp of a failing elite. Nonetheless, his empire ate several generations of
Russians and others victims before its final collapse. The American empire is
in the midst of the beginning of a similar gluttony. But America, with so much
more market-generated wealth than any of the socialist states, has a much
greater way to fall.
What
is to be done? We the people must turn our backs on
the elite. Trust none of them. We can no longer “Vote for the Lesser of the Two Evils.” We can no longer sanction
their misrule by voting for any of them. We must demand third choices. We must demand
the right to govern ourselves again.
We
must assert our expressive association rights: to communicate, to associate and
to petition freely; we must assert our personal sovereignty rights: to informed
consent [5], to hold property, to trade freely, and to keep and bear arms.
How
is that to be done? There is only one political
organization in America capable of standing toe-to-toe with the two party duopoly.
The Libertarian Party, after 45 years laboring in the political vineyard, will
be the only “other party” on the national ballot. The other “third parties” are
well-meaning but really merely political clubs without significant ballot
access that ought to rally around the libertarian candidate as the one hope to
break the political deadlock.
The
Libertarian Party [6] is the only logical choice, as it is the only uncorrupted
party that will be on all fifty state ballots.
Former New Mexico governor, and private economy entrepreneur, Gary Johnson is
its likely candidate. [7] Whether climbing Mr. Everest (he’s climbed the
highest mountain on each continent) or building successful businesses, Gary is
a different kind of American politician. Kind,
respectful, intelligent. Proven tax and spending cutter. Strong voice for
non-intervention and peace. Civil libertarian. Supports the end of the "drug war" and supports equal rights for LGBTs. He was known as “Gov. No” for
his national record in vetoing spending, regulating and taxing bills.
When Senator Rand Paul, the only (now former)
candidate who had any understanding of the real threats facing America sought
to protect the Federal Debt Limit last October, to protect us from inevitable
fiscal chaos by stopping the borrow-spend-tax-borrow juggernaut, all the other
candidates, (G)OPers and Demos alike, including Cruz, Rubio and Sanders, voted
to suspend the Federal Debt Limit
until after the 2016 election, thereby voting for unlimited Federal Debt. They are the problem; they are not any
solution.
The 2016 election may be the last best chance for
the people of America to take back their government -- to restore the republic.
Going forward, as more and more people come to depend on a failing government,
the chance for change toward liberty
becomes more remote; the inevitability of violent conflict unavoidable.
Unless
the two party duopoly is broken, America cannot be fixed.
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