The Third Party, or How to Fuck Up a Revolution

I only discuss politics from time to time, and am generally not that open about my political beliefs because others aren’t so open and immediately try to label me. But things have reached a point in this election season that I feel that I can’t keep my mouth shut anymore.

Full disclosure: I’m independent. I don’t belong to any party because I don’t agree with any of them. And I don’t need to be part of a party and told how to vote. I can make up my own mind, thank you. Now, I tend to lean a little more conservatively when I vote. I consider myself socially liberal but fiscally conservative. I’m for making the government fiscally responsible and staying out of people’s personal lives. Since most decisions government make have to do with money (and they do), I tend to vote more conservatively unless there is truly a problem with the candidate or measure.

John McCain was a great candidate in 2000. I’m not liking the way his campaign has been going this year, as have many other who supported him back then. He’s clearly and obviously pandering to the far right. Everyone I know can see this; he’s not hiding it very well. So it leaves a question as to whether once he’s elected he will revert to McCain 2000 or not. I don’t know that the country’s future can be gambled on that assumption.

Barack Obama is promoting change and hope, but isn’t being specific, at least not about things the president can actually do. Keep in mind, the president does not make tax laws! That is the role of Congress. So any time a candidate for president says they or their opponent will raise or lower taxes for certain people, it’s a moot point because they can’t actually do it. The same is true with the political football of universal healthcare. Congress needs to do this, not the President. He/she can only sign or veto, but can’t make the laws. So Obama seems to be a very hollow candidate who is all style with little to no substance.

Which is why I was waiting for the announcement from the Ron Paul camp yesterday. Several people believed that he would endorse or be the candidate of a specific third party. The closest we’ve had to an impact from a third party in recent memory was with Ralph Nader and the Green Party in 2000. Keep in mind that Nader never intended nor believed that he could actually win. His goal was simply to gain five percent of the popular vote, which would have given a third party federally distributed public funds for the 2004 election and sent enough of a message to the two major parties that people want these other issues addressed, raise awareness, and possible get a third party included in the debates. This could have had a major impact, but unfortunately, he failed to do this.

Ron Paul has a fairly substantial following. He could have had a major impact on this election. Unfortunately, yesterday, he fucked the whole thing up. Instead of throwing his support behind a single third party candidate (like Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, with whom Paul seems to have the most philosophical similarities), he simply urged his supporters to vote for any of the third party candidates. What I suspect this will do is result in a scattered vote, as his supporters all vote for different candidates, some possibly even going to the two major parties. If he had thrown his support behind a single candidate or himself, that coveted five percent goal might have been reached, and then real change in government might have started to form. Instead, the third party and independent vote will now be scattered, most likely destroying real hope of achieving the shake-up necessary, and it could have started taking down the fatalism that only the two major parties could ever hold office or have an impact.

And that’s how you fuck up a Revolution!

Who am I voting for? That’s my business. And you make up your own mind, too.