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Feb. 8, 2013
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Jewish World Review
May 17, 2012/ 24 Iyar, 5772
U.S. needs a good third party
By
Dale McFeatters
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Listening to a senator's tiresome and seemingly endless list of the country's needs, Thomas Marshall, Woodrow Wilson's vice president, famously added, "What this country needs is a really good 5-cent cigar." Now, of course, that cigar would get Marshall thrown out of most restaurant and retail establishments, but for a long time the quip came to symbolize some unmet need in the country.
And every four years we hear the cry, "What this country needs is a really good third party." Every election cycle smaller parties vie for recognition and generally with some regularity they fail.
The latest is Americans Elect, which had hoped to build a third party through an online primary to be followed by an Americans Elect Online Convention in June. The party threw in the towel this week when none of the candidates reached the required vote threshold.
Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, not exactly a household name, did best of the declared candidates with 4,000 votes, equivalent to the turnout for a good high school football game.
Doing best of all was Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, a cheerful isolationist-libertarian with devoted followers and an uncanny ability to raise money and a knack for driving the GOP front-runners nuts. He has stopped campaigning, but is likely biding his time until the Republican convention and another opportunity to bug the party establishment.
There is no lack of third parties in this country. One website that tracks these numbers identifies 38 third parties with some claim, perhaps best not examined too closely, to a national following. Another 11 or so are specific to certain states, including the New York's the Rent Is Too Damn High Party that attracted a lot of attention and few votes during the debates.
For some true believers, the dream will never die. On the left, there are eight parties with "socialist" in their name and, of course, there is that venerable artifact of another time, the Communist Party USA.
And one of two independents in the Senate, a rare legislator without a party, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, identifies himself as a democratic socialist, small "d" and small "s." Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut was rejected by his own Democratic party, ran successfully as an independent and, although he caucuses with the Democrats, he supported Republican nominee Sen. John McCain for president.
It is a tribute to the Democrats' narrow margin that his desk hasn't been moved out into the hall and he hasn't been assigned to the Select Subcommittee on Cleaning Supplies.
That is not to say third-party candidates are without influence, although generally they are. Democrat Al Gore may have lost Florida, and the White House, in 2000 because of the votes drained from him by Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. George W.
Bush didn't even have the decency to make him an ambassador by way of thanks.
In 1992, Ross Perot got 19 percent of the vote, and may have cost President George H.W. Bush his job. He may have done even better had he not abruptly dropped out of the race in June only to pop back in again a month before the election. Still, he made the best third-party showing since Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose party in 1912.
The last successful third party was the Republican Party in 1860. Since then, as Vice President Marshall might say, close, but no cigar.
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Previously:
• 05/16/12 Earmarks quietly looking to make a comeback
• 05/15/12 Some good in war
• 05/14/12 Mayan discovery: It's safe to make plans for 2013
• 05/10/12 Save those 'Hillary!' buttons
• 04/18/12 Government service can be fun. Really.
• 04/17/12 Scandal, yes, but Cartagena had summit, too
• 04/16/12 When your car is smarter than you are
• 04/13/12 Lenders tiptoe back into world of credit risks
• 04/12/12 What do you mean you don't want a driver's license?
• 04/11/12 Smartphone anti-theft plan seems, um, smart
• 04/10/12 Bizarre process to choose a veep
• 04/09/12 From remote exurbs, cities don't look so bad anymore
• 04/06/12 We do want the fake Romney, not the 'real' one
• 04/05/12 Heaping even more indignities on air travelers
• 03/29/12 Blown away in Washington, D.C.
• 03/28/12 At the nuke summit an inadvertent moment of candor
• 03/27/12 A worse unemployment problem
• 03/23/12 The federal budget: A game of make-believe
• 03/21/12 In Iraq, blame the U.S., but drive American
• 03/20/12 Too late, bin Laden realized killing Muslims was a mistake
• 03/16/12 Hu and Wen leaving. China asks: What next?
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• 02/21/12 A new way of attacking food-stamp fraud
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• 02/10/12 Filming in D.C. creates hassle for Hollywood
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• 01/02/12 Pragmatic look at top words
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• 12/21/12 Speculation and wishful thinking can get scary
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• 10/27/11 Bienvenidos a Dayton and bring your businesses with you
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• 10/04/11 Christie should ignore jibes on his weight
• 10/03/11 Iran says its warships will head for Jersey shore
• 09/29/11 Europeans bristle at Obama's lectures
• 09/28/11 Jessica Rabbit for the defense
• 09/27/11 Russia learns outcome of next March's presidential election
• 09/26/11 Another try at leaving no child behind
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• 09/06/11 Congress returns, tanned, rested and testy
• 09/05/11 Space nations must clean up after themselves
• 09/02/11 Osama bin Laden died a failure and he knew it
• 09/01/11 Time to retire political pie in the face
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• 08/16/11: Super Committee starts facing reality
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© 2011, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
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