Why not a Constitutionally Conscious Third Party?

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?

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Basic 3^rd Party Math

It's no secret that many American voters are unhappy with both political parties at present. A recent Rasmussen Report showed that as of the poll taken roughly a month ago, 36% of voters identified themselves as Democrat voters, while only 18% said they were Republican voters. 23% identified themselves as independent "Tea Party" voters, which I'm sure includes a lot of angry town hall goers and 912 folks as well. According to a December '09 Gallup poll, voters identified themselves as follows;

• 36% Independent
• 33% Democrat
• 29% Republican
• 49% leaning left overall
• 43% leaning right overall

People across the political blogosphere have ginned up the spin machines and spun these numbers literally dozens of different ways since their publication. Not surprisingly, people looking to support the 3^rd party concept have looked at these numbers and determined that they support the 3^rd party concept because Gallup shows Independents as the single largest voting bloc today, and Rasmussen show "Tea Party" voters larger than Republican voters by a 23% to 18% margin. However, they fail to confront two very important factors not currently included in those discussions.

1. There currently is no 3^rd "Tea Party" banner for any candidate to run under, much less a complete viable, fully registered and fully funded "Tea Party" able to compete with the DNC and RNC on the national scene.
2. The minute we say 3^rd party, we are talking about multiple 3^rd party efforts, because the same people who can't work within the constitutional two party system, can't agree with others how to raise up a 3^rd party either. There are more than 50 3^rd parties in America today, not counting a "Tea Party" yet to be formed. The minute we step beyond the two party system, we enter the world of the multi-party parliament system. From that moment on, our constitutional republic will be governed by the most "united" minority group, and it is no secret that the political left is much more united than the political right at present.

The Independent

In the good ole days, Independents were folks who belonged to neither party apparatus and voted for "the best man" in the race. That was then... Today's "independent" is unhappy with both political parties and they see NO good men in the race, just choices of the "lesser evil." Most independents correctly see Democrats as outright Marxists and Republicans as spineless "go along to get along" centrists today. Although they still believe in our founding principles and values of individual freedom and liberty, along with free-market prosperity, they see no one in Washington DC who believes in these things with any real conviction today. As a result, they have migrated away from both parties and find themselves in search of a new political home which represents the principles and values they once thought both parties believed in. This means that the old strategy of moving "center" to grab the "independents" based upon an old perception that the independents are "centrists," is dead wrong. Don't confuse "non-partisan" with anti-American. The reason they have no loyalty to either political party is because neither political party has any loyalty to the Constitution. The vast majority of independents simply want their constitution back and they don't believe that either political party will deliver on the false campaign slogan anymore.

The Hard Facts

Never in U.S. history did voters have two less deserving presidential and vice presidential candidates to choose from than in the 2008 election. People likely to read this column, don't need me to count the many ways that Obama and McCain were the bottom of the well in terms of the U.S. leadership talent pool. But despite this well known fact, Ralph Nader came in a distant 3^rd with a mere .56% of the national vote, a grand total of 739,278 voters. The "conservative" ticket put forth in 2008 was the Libertarian ticket with Bob Barr and Wayne Root, which snagged the imagination of a whopping 523,433 voters, a lousy .40% of the national vote. They didn't even beat Ralph Nader! All of the other "unnamed" 3^rd party candidates garnered .57% of the vote combined. Other long-shot hopefuls like Ron Paul and Alan Keyes didn't even make it on to the national ballot. In the end, 98.47% of the voters cast a vote for the two primary party tickets despite the fact that we had undeniably, the two worst tickets to choose from in U.S. history.

Strategy or Fantasy?

Just as hope is not a strategy, twisting numbers to suit a personal agenda is not a strategy either. At least not a viable strategy with the BIG picture in mind... The only numbers that matter here are 36, 23 and 98.47... 23% "Tea Party" voters without a "Tea Party" to run a single candidate under cannot defeat 36% Democrat voters even in the wonderful Land of Oz, especially when 98.47% of voters are highly prone to support one of the two primary party tickets in every national election. Therefore, ALL 3^rd party (and non-party) strategies are "fantasy." However, retaking constitutionally conservative control of the nation is NOT a fantasy, so long as the strategy for doing so is not based upon fantasy. Putting Marxists in control of the United States for the next hundred years is not a fantasy either, if people focus on building a 3^rd party instead of saving their country.

What a Viable Strategy Looks Like

• A viable strategy must be an actual strategy, not just a fantasy
• To be viable it must be "doable"
• It must be within the power of the people
• It must be united in the single purpose of winning
• It must be based upon well defined initiatives
• And it must be supported by the masses

Raising up a competitive 3^rd party is not "doable" or even desirable, unless you like the idea of a parliament style of minority government. But seizing control of one of the two primary parties and returning it to its constitutional foundation, in order to seize conservative control of Washington DC is not only "doable," it's the right thing to do.

Getting our Hands Dirty

No knight in shining armor riding on a silver steed is coming to sweep in and save the damsel in distress here folks. There is no Superman, or Spiderman, or big green Hulk armed with a silver bullet. To be certain, we woke up in a nation that is run by a cabal of corrupt career politicians who have turned our shining city on a hill into a cesspool of Marxist sewage that stinks from the morally bankrupt streets of DC to the fiscally bankrupt shores of California. Nobody can clean up this mess but us, and there is no way to clean it up without getting our hands dirty in the process. We can't fix our problems by running from then or by taking our football and going home just because we don't like everyone on the field or the rules we have allowed someone else to establish. In short, there are no short cuts to national sovereignty, security and prosperity. The longer we wait to take control of the situation, the more difficult the task. We have to roll up our sleeves and get to work here friends. There is NO other alternative. We have ridden on the gravy train provided by generations past, as long as we can. It is our turn to provide freedom and liberty for the next generation and the clock is ticking.

Viable but Unlikely Alternatives

• The states could enforce the 10^th Amendment and shut down the fed
• The people could refuse to pay another penny in taxes until the Fed returns to within its constitutional limitations
• The two million Tea partiers that went to DC on 9/12/09 could go again, this time with indictments in hand
• The people could demand that the Supreme Court step in and review every federal policy on the basis of constitutional standing

All of these options are "viable," but none of them are "doable" because nobody will do them. Because the vast majority of Americans no longer know how their government is set up to operate or why, they no longer know what their rights are, or how to exercise them. Proof that the people don't know how their government works is the fact that they think they need a new political party to replace the two they already failed to control.

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... For those having trouble seeing the difference between the DNC and RNC, I challenge you to read this document and get back to me. Those who already get it should go here immediately and get engaged. Get your state legislators engaged here. And if you are ready to get dirty and take matters into your own hands, then get engaged here. But whatever you do, get in the fight while you still can. If you are not in the game, you cannot be part of the solution and if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem!