3rd Party Politics

In another day or so, the 2012 presidential election season will be over….and let us all say “Amen.” On January 20, 2013 the choice of the American people will be inaugurated and on January 21, 2013, the 2016 Presidential election season will begin. I only wish I was joking. It seems like we move seamlessly from one Presidential election to the next without a break. I for one, cannot wait for all this to be over.

But like so many people, I find myself thinking that there has to be other choices than the 2 we have now. In theory we do have more than 2 political parties, but nobody ever takes those 3rd party  people seriously and I wish they would. I wish there was a viable 3rd party, if for no other reason than to scare the shit of the democrats and the republicans. To make them realize that they can’t sit around day after day, week after week, month after month, and seemingly do nothing but run for office.

2 years ago, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senator from Kentucky and the Senate Minority Leader, publicly stated that his party’s goal for the next 2 years was that President Obama lose in 2012. He would block legislation and act on nothing that might make our President look good, even if it benefited our country. I’m sorry but that is seriously fucked up, but Mitch has nothing to worry about, at least where his job is concerned. He’s been a Senator since 1984, will probably hold his seat until he dies (and maybe even after that) and he’s not alone. There’s politicians on both sides of the aisles who are career politicians, who spend their entire political careers running for office and bringing home the pork to their constituents, even if the people they serve don’t really like or need pork.

Unfortunately, the 2 parties we currently have are so dug in there is no way to get rid of them, unless a viable 3rd party comes along. Some thought the Tea Party was that solution but they have gone so far off the deep end (and I mean way off), that is no longer possible. For those who do vote for a 3rd party candidate, our peers look down their noses and state “you’ve just wasted your vote.”

Well, I don’t agree. I think we need to put a scare into the current 2 parties, even if the 3rd party candidate we favor has no shot of winning. I think if a couple of 3rd party candidates could combine to get 8 – 10% of the vote, Americans would take notice and American politicians would take notice. If you don’t like the 2 choices, do something with your vote. I believe voting for a Democrat or a Republic that you don’t really feel passionate about,  (just because you don’t think a 3rd party candidate can win) is a wasted vote, not the other way around and I’m not just talking about the race for President….local races too. Vote for a Libertarian, a Green Party candidate, an Independent or pick a candidate who stands for just one issue that you care deeply about – the environment, legalizing marijuana, abortion, whatever.

In 1980, I voted for President for the first time. The 2 major party candidates running were Reagan and Carter. Also running as an independent was John Anderson, a republican congressman from Illinois. I weighed all my options, listened to my NYC union teacher mother tell me I had to vote for a democrat, and in the end I voted for the 3rd party guy. My decision was based on my unhappiness with the current state of things under Carter, my belief that Reagan should go back to acting and the fact that the female student running the Anderson for President campaign on campus at SU had a great rack. At 20 years old, it was the only part of the campaign I was really passionate about.