Resist “Common Wisdom”: Allow Yourself to Think “Third Party” (Join the Many Who Have Done Just That Throughout U.S. History)

Posted on September 30, 2009 by insightanalytical

(Editor’s Note: This piece from Kenosha Marge is cross-posted from her bunker up North known as “Witch’s Will“. Orignally posted under the title “How do I know? The experts tell me so.”)

September 30, 2009

By Kenosha  Marge

It occurred to me recently, while bemoaning the fact that we do not have a viable 3rd party choice in this country that perhaps “I” was part of the problem. Part of the problem because I believed that we couldn’t have a viable party because the “common wisdom”  or   the “experts” tell us so.

Just as the power of positive thinking works, so does the power of negative thinking.  If we are convinced something can’t happen then we won’t make much of an effort in that direction. No use us “spinning our wheels” is there? The old beating our heads against a brick wall approach that everyone tells us is stupid and not constructive. Add painful.

Remember that old limerick that went something like this:

They told the young man it couldn’t be done

With a smile on his face he went right to it

He tackled that job that couldn’t be done

And you know what, he couldn’t do it.

Thinking about that limerick and how I let that kind of thing insidiously convince me that we couldn’t have a viable 3rd party I realized that I was a knothead. Of course that’s something I all ready knew, but I suddenly realized that on this issue I was more of a knothead than usual.  I was allowing the “common wisdom” and the “experts” to shape my opinion and thus help to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I am not naive enough to believe that having a 3rd Party choice would solve all our problems. Getting rid of most of the corrupt and corrupted politicians in Washington D.C., while putting the fear of re-election into the rest is what’s absolutely necessary. Add a cease fire with shooting ourselves in the foot by electing the same old pols with our same old partisan votes.

Those would be the same pols that disappoint us time and again. As a punishment we re-elect them. Perhaps they packed us in pork and we consider that good governance. We do if we consider getting ours at the expense of the good of the country good governance.  Let me state for the record that I don’t.

My mantra has become “Partisanship is un-American and unpatriotic and dammit, it’s lazy too.” Quite a wordy mantra, it definitely needs some work. However, it work for me.

We get so focused on the Democrats and Republicans that we forget how many other parties have come and gone since the founding of our government.

Most know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and that Andrew Jackson was a Democrat. But did you know that Thomas Jefferson was a Democrat-Republican? Perhaps that doesn’t seem so strange given that we basically have the same thing today, they just pretend to be different on television. The two major parties each take a turn to screw the public, steal from the public and score points off their “adversaries” by doing things that will harm the public. Unlike Jefferson, what we have now are Democrat-Republican-Asshats.

Historical political parties

The following parties are no longer functioning. Some of them had considerable influence. Listed in order of founding.

Gone and mostly forgotten until Googled at Wikipedia.

The Top Three of the 3rd Parties are:

Constitution Party – socially conservative, fiscally conservative

Green Party – socially progressive, fiscally liberal

Libertarian Party – socially liberal, fiscally conservative

Libertarian Party: Founded in 1971, the Libertarian party is the third largest political party in America. Over the years, Libertarian Party candidates have been elected to many state and local offices.

Libertarians believe the federal government should play a minimal role in the day-to-day affairs of the people. They believe that the only appropriate role of government is to protect the citizens from acts of physical force or fraud. A libertarian-style government would therefore limit itself to a police, court, prison system and military. Members support free market economy and are dedicated to protection of civil liberties and individual freedom.

Constitution Party

is a United States political party rooted in the paleoconservative movement. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers’ Party in 1992. The party’s official name was changed to the Constitution Party in 1999; however, some state affiliate parties are known under different names. The party’s goal as stated in its own words is “to restore our government to its Constitutional limits and our law to its Biblical foundations.” [1] The party puts a large focus on immigration, calling for stricter penalties towards illegal immigrants and a moratorium on legal immigration until all federal subsidies to immigrants are discontinued.[2] The party absorbed the American Independent Party, originally founded for George Wallace’s 1968 presidential campaign. The American Independent Party of California was an affiliate of the Constitution Party since its founding, but disaffiliated itself after the 2008 Constitution Party Convention to support Alan Keyes and his America’s Independent Party. The Constitution Party’s affiliate in California now bears the name of California Constitution Party.

Green Party of the United States (GPUS)

is one of the political parties in the United States, and similar in mission to many of the worldwide Green Parties. The Greens, a voluntary association of state parties, have been active as a nationally recognized political party since 2001. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by their corresponding states. The Association of State Green Parties (ASGP), a forerunner organization, first gained widespread public attention during Ralph Nader’s presidential runs in 1996 and 2000. With the founding of the Green Party of the United States, the party established a national political presence becoming the primary national Green organization in the U.S. eclipsing the earlier Greens/Green Party USA which emphasized non-electoral movement building.

I have voted for Green Candidates now and again. Now I’m not sure I want to do that again. Being fiscally liberal is not a good fit for me. And voting for a “Green” is quite often the same as voting for a Democrat. The same skunk with a differant stipe isn’t what I’m looking for.

There are literally dozens of other “3rd Parties”, many whom I must confess I had never heard of before. There is a link below if you want to take a look around and see what’s available.

The problem for most 3rd Party candidates is getting on the ballot.

In most states a 3rd party candidate must gather signatures from citizens. The number varies from state to state. Here’s just a sample:

Georgia: The legislature passed a law in 1943 requiring that new party and independent candidates submit a petition signed by 5% of the number of registered voters in order to get on the ballot for any office. Previously, any party could get on the ballot just by requesting it. The result has been that since 1943, there has not been one third party candidate on the Georgia ballot for U.S. House of Representatives.

Florida: The ballot access laws for third parties and independent candidates have been very severe ever since 1931. Since 1931, there have been only two third party candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives on the ballot and only one third party candidate for the U.S. Senate. There has not been a third party or independent candidate on the ballot for Governor of Florida since 1920. Currently, a filing fee of 7% of the annual salary of the office is also required unless the candidate is a pauper, while a third party or independent candidate for any statewide office (other than president) needs 196,255 valid signatures — no independent candidate in any state in the U.S. has ever successfully complied with a signature requirement greater than 134,781 signatures.

Arkansas: The legislature passed a law in 1971 providing that new parties could not get on the ballot unless they submit a petition signed by a number of voters equal to 7% of the last vote cast. Because this law in 1977 was held unconstitutional (courts have since held that petition requirements cannot exceed 5% of the electorate), the legislature changed it to 3%. No political party has ever succeeded in getting on the Arkansas ballot, under either the 7% or the 3% rule — partly because the state requires that the petition be completed in the four months during the odd year before an election year.

West Virginia: Third party and independent candidates for office (other than president) must circulate their petition before the primary. It is a crime for any petition circulator to approach anyone without saying “If you sign my petition, you cannot vote in the primary.” The law can be enforced because it is illegal for anyone to circulate a petition without first obtaining “credentials” from election officials for this purpose. Furthermore, it is impossible for third party or independent candidates (not running for president) to ever know in advance if they have enough valid signatures because if anyone who signs a candidate’s petition then votes in a primary, the signature of that person is invalid. For candidates, it is impossible to know who will actually vote in the primary, and it is too late to get signatures after the primary.

Tennessee – 25 signatures is all that is required as of 2006 to be put on the ballot for any elected office. A candidate for President of the United States must put foward a full slate of candidates who have agreed to serve as electors (11, at least until the 2010 census). A party must mainatain five percent of the vote statewide in order to be recognized as a party and have its candidates listed on the ballot under that party’s name; the last third party to do so was the American Party in 1968; none of its candidates received five percent of the statewide vote in 1970 and it was then decertified as an official party.

Texas – For a registered political party in a statewide election to gain ballot access, they must either 1) obtain five percent of the vote in any statewide election or 2) collect petition signatures equal to one percent of the total votes cast in the preceding election for governor, and must do so by January 2 of the year in which such statewide election is held. An independent candidate for any statewide office must collect petition signatures equal to one percent of the total votes cast for governor, and must do so beginning the day after primary elections are held and complete collection within 60 days thereafter (if runoff elections are held, the window is shortened to beginning the day after runoff elections are held and completed within 30 days thereafter). The petition signature cannot be from anyone who voted in either primary (including runoff), and voters cannot sign multiple petitions (they must sign a petition for one party or candidate only).

Both major parties make it as difficult as possible for 3rd Party candidates to get on a ballot. It’s not that they fear that any 3rd party will win,although Ross Perot did give them a scare, it’s that 3rd parties often act as spoilers.

Perot’s candidacy received increasing media attention when the competitive phase of the primary season ended for the two major parties. President George H.W. Bush was losing support, and Democratic nominee Bill Clinton was still suffering from the numerous scandal allegations made in the previous months. With the insurgent candidacies of Republican Pat Buchanan and Democrat Jerry Brown winding down, Perot was the natural beneficiary of populist resentment toward establishment politicians. On May 25, 1992 he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine with the title “Waiting for Perot”, an allusion to Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot.

Whatever the reason the fact remains that we could have more choices when we vote. We can have more choices if we insist that those choices be made available to us in every election, local, state and national. We owe it to ourselves to look around and see what’s available.

Or we can just make our selection from a very limited menu as usual. Funny thing is, we wouldn’t accept that at a hamburger joint but we accept it meekly when it comes to our government.  If we don’t work to change that we have only ourselves to blame.

It doesn’t matter what the experts, the mavens, the pundidiots, and common wisdom is trying to tell us. Because all of the above are so wrong so often that why we listen to them/it at all is a complete mystery to me. A mystery I suspect would baffle the offspring of Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple. And that’s the picture I leave you to try to get out of your head. Big winking smiley with sunglasses

links110_a

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_United_States#Historical_political_parties

This link is for modern political parties:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_party_(United_States)

Ross Perot link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot

Campaign to get 3rd Party Candidates on Every Congressional Ballot

http://www.breakthematrix.com/Third-Party/campaign-to-get-3rd-party-candidates-on-EVERY-Congressional-ballot-in-2010

Getting 3rd Party Candidates on the ballot a difficult endeavor

http://www.satireandcomment.com/sc1007thirdparty.html

Ballot access

http://www.ballot-access.org/winger/fbfp.html

Ballot access laws by state

http://home.earthlink.net/~maxhamforpresident/id28.html

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A Party Held HOSTAGE: Michelle Obama Wasn’t Alone in Her Hostility at the Rainbow/PUSH Conference in 2004–Protests Against Jesse Jackson, Threats Against Democrats/Kerry By Ministers in an Eerie Preview of the Rev. Wright Episode

Posted on June 5, 2008 by insightanalytical

The Hillbuzz post on the Michelle Obama rant tape gives a brief overview of what was going on at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago which was held between June 26th – July 1st 2004 in Chicago.

My research comes up with some more interesting information about what was going on outside the conference…demonstrations by ministers, specifically Rev. Anthony Williams, against Jesse Jackson, who was called “the worst nightmare” for the black community and threats against the Democratic Party and candidate John Kerry by protestors in what seems to be an eerie preview of the Reverend Wright episode this primary season. More on this later…

The entire agenda of the conference is available in a press release issued by Rainbow/Push. The press release was entitled 2004 Annual Conference: Politics, Business, Education, Hip-Hop Take Center Stage.

BILL CLINTON, JOHN KERRY, BILL COSBY, DICK GEPHARDT, HOWARD DEAN, BARACK OBAMA HIGHLIGHT ANNUAL RAINBOW/PUSH & CEF CONFERENCE CHICAGO (June 16, 2004) – Former president and current author Bill Clinton, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, entertainer/educator Bill Cosby, former presidential candidate and Vermont Governor Howard Dean, Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt, Chicago Stock Exchange Chairman Valerie Jarrett; Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, California Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Democratic senatorial candidate Barack Obama and Starbucks Chairman and Chief Global Strategist Howard Schultz are among the dozens of newsmakers scheduled to attend the 33rd Annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and Citizenship Education Fund Conference, June 26 – July 1, 2004, at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.This year’s conference, 2004: A Year of Critical Choices For Inclusion and Growth, has extra significance as this presidential election year marks the 20th anniversary of Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.’s historic run for the presidency of the United States. His 1984 campaign was the first serious bid by an African-American for the nation’s highest office.

In celebration of this anniversary, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition hosts a day of festivities on Saturday, June 26, known as Reunion Day. The event, which will be held at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters at 930 E. 50th St., Chicago, will bring together the many politicians, political organizers, campaign workers, ministers, educators, students, factory workers, journalists, Midwestern farmers, Appalachian coal miners and other supporters who worked on the 1984 and 1988 campaigns.

“On this day, we will reach back as far as we can go,” Rev. Jackson said as he and Rainbow/PUSH Coalition officials look forward to seeing some of the old warriors, whom he describes as the “roots” of the movement. “Most of today’s young politicians don’t know these people. Many of them who started with us are aging and they are not here, but their children and their political offspring are active.

“One reason Jesse Jr. won his congressional seat is because his opponents did not know how deep people’s gratitude was for our work. “All of these people, and their children and even their children’s children, voted for him.”

“For all of us,” Rev. Jackson added, “Reunion Day is about tapping the strength of our roots, about looking deep and wide to know who we are. This event is one way of keeping our roots watered.”

Many of the elected officials and people gathering for Reunion Day will remain in Chicago on Sunday, June 27, for the convention’s Leadership Summit Day. Guests scheduled to attend the summit include former presidential candidate and Vermont governor Howard Dean, Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, California Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown; Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., Democratic senatorial candidate Barack Obama, and many current and former lawmakers at state and federal levels.

Isn’t it interesting that in 2004, Jackson’s 1984 run was described as the first “serious” run for the Presidency by a black candidate? And yet, in 2008, we’re hearing that Bill Clinton is a racist for citing Jackson’s campaigns and Obama is being referred to as the first “serious” black candidate? But, a story from the Chicago Tribune reporting on the conference’s Reunion Day includes the following background. (Jackson, Fans Reflect on Legacy of ’84, ’88 bids. Note: Original story in fee archives, excerpt from copy of the story found at FreeRepublic [shudder!])

Asked last week if he ever thought he’d win, Jackson answered: “I was running to register people, running to enlighten people and running to learn.”

At that he succeeded, he said.

The 1984 campaign alone registered 1 million new voters, according to Rainbow/PUSH. In 1988, the campaign registered 2 million new voters…

As for enlightening people, Jackson said, his bid stretched voters’ notion of the electable.

“When I ran in ’84, it was like an absurd idea. It was just crazy. Scholars were writing articles,” he said. Jackson won 3.5 million votes in 1984 and did better in 1988, emerging from the Democratic primaries and caucuses with 7 million votes.

That sounds like a pretty “real” candidate to me…

***

Now, what else happened at the conference?

According to the agenda provided in the press release, there was what seems to have been a “Women’s Luncheon” which was held on Monday, June 28, 2004 from noon to 2 pm. Jesse Jackson was the keynote speaker at the event. I cannot find any other event specifically for women on the agenda. And there is no specific mention of Louis Farrakhan being in attendance at this event.

Just before this luncheon, however, there was a meeting from 8 am to 10 am focusing on the “religious community.”

Monday, June 28

Focus: The Church and the Marketplace
Sessions on finance, health, issues in the religious community and related topics will be held throughout the day. Rev. Major Jemison, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, gives the keynote address. Rev. Stephen J. Thurston, president of the National Baptist Convention of America, presides. 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

I cannot identify which event Michelle Obama or Farrakhan attended…did they attend the main meeting, the luncheon, or both? Or was there another event which they attended other then the ones I’ve mentioned?

***

Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby participated on the last day of the event:

After four days of specialized meetings and events, the conference concludes on Thursday, July 1, with a stellar lineup of participants, including former President and current author Bill Clinton, Bill Cosby, Charles Ogletree and celebrity judge Greg Mathis, who will discuss critical issues in education.

***

The protest against Jackson coincided with John Kerry’s speech on Tuesday, June 29th in a session attended by many from the labor movement. As reported by Cyber News Service. (NOTE: Rev. Anthony Williams, a member of the Libertarian party as described in the “Why Anthony” section, announced in 2006 that he planned to run against Jesse Jackson, Jr. om 2008–his website from 2006 is here, with a full biography. He makes a special appeal to young voters in the “Issues” section and the section “Republican Party” provides information for donating to his campaign.Williams actually ran in 2006, but lost to Jackson. He was part of a group of Conservative black leaders who, in 2005, who condemned “Democrats for what they view as an “act of racism” for illegally obtaining the credit report of Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, a black Republican believed to be ready to launch a campaign for the U.S. Senate.)

Protestors Call Jesse Jackson ‘Worst Nightmare’ for Black Community
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
June 30, 2004

Chicago (CNSNews.com) – As Democrat John F. Kerry addressed Jesse Jackson’s 33rd annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Conference on Tuesday, about 100 African-American religious and community leaders gathered on a sidewalk outside the conference to protest Jackson for being the black community’s “worst nightmare.”

“Jesse is an immoral person. He has a history of being on the wrong side of history,” said Pastor Anthony Williams of Chicago’s St. Stephens Lutheran Church.

“The media — the American media — has invented our worst nightmare in the black community. He has never done anything beneficial for our people,” Williams told CNSNews.com.

“We are letting the Democratic Party know — from a state, county and federal level — that the black vote is not for sale. I will vote for Mickey Mouse before I vote for John Kerry,” Williams added.

The protestors chanted and carried signs that read “Jesse does not speak for black people” and “America’s number-one pimp selling the black vote.”

Williams does not believe that black voters’ overwhelming support for the Democratic Party has proven beneficial to minorities.

“The African American community has historically got nothing (from supporting the Democratic Party) — a precious few has gotten something like these old civil rights organizations and people like Jesse,” Williams said.

“We have been taken for granted because of people like Jesse. His day is over with,” he added.

(snip)

The protestors said Jackson does not represent black America.

“We want the Democratic Party to know that we will no longer be taken for granted, we will no longer just give our vote to them. We will no longer allow Jesse to pigeonhole the black community into a vote for them,” Davis said.

(snip)

But protestor Williams was not persuaded that blacks have no other option except to vote for the Democratic Party.

I say, ‘Guess what? We can go fishing on Election Day, and let’s see what is going to happen to Mr. Kerry then,” Williams said. “I will just encourage my congregation of 3000 people to go fishing.”

Harold Davis said he was willing to give Bush and the GOP a chance to compete for his vote.

“Let’s see what the Republican Party has to say about pulling yourself up by your own boot straps. Let’s give them the opportunity to come to the talk,” Davis said.

Wow. Doesn’t a lot of this sound real familiar?? Seems like the Democratic Party has been sitting on this volcano since 2004. And Williams’ was calling Democrats racists in 2005. Doesn’t all this this sound like the Democratic Party has been held HOSTAGE and that 2008 is all about appeasement?? (With just window-dressing with “image” and no real action on real concerns?) Is this what is at the top of the agenda for Democrats??

***

Also, link to full coverage of the conference in JET magazine, July 26, 2004


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