How about the Middle Earth party...? I find little to agree with in either party, I hate the conservative stance on most social issues of the republican party, the current version of the democratic party is a bizarre hybrid of McGovernite foreign policy and Buchananesque trade policy. I agree w/ W's tax cuts, but they don't go far enough- we should have a flat tax, no deductions, no loopholes, perhaps phased in for those at the lowest income levels. I admire the social tolerance of the democratic party, but disagree w/ the idea that throwing money at an issue will solve all of society's ills. And i viloently with the constant democratic refrain that if one doesn't want to spend money on an issue means one doesn't care. the republican party has its own spending issues now, however. The only reason I will vote republican this year is the democratic party has no coherent response to the challenge of radical islamic terrorism. outsourcing our national security to the UN is not an option.
Yeah, that's pretty much what it is. Why do they not come out and say socialist rather than cloaking it behind the mantle of "Green," which most folks would associate with environmentalism?
Now that is something I can agree on, because I think those on the right and those on the left can agree that choosing a prez means doing exactly that, choosing the lesser of two evils.
No problem. I love playing devil's advocate and I appreciate it from others. Ideas always have holes and I like to be challenged so that I can think them through. When it comes down to it, this is what the Middle Party is really about, real Americans having a conversation about what they want their political system to look like. There are problems that are just as big (or bigger) with fielding your own candidates. I think that as a starting point, we can have more impact simply as a large block of people who vote mostly together. That is how popular movements get started. There are issues that I believe are bigger than the issues that the majors choose to focus on. I outlined the two that I think are the most egregious (tax reform and campaign finance reform) and these are the two issues that I believe will drive this party in the beginning. The candidates we choose to endorse will be the one that makes concessions to us and addresses our concerns. If some of our members choose to vote for someone other than the one we endorse, more power to them, that is their right as an independant. We just discuss the issues with each other and the candidates and make recommendations to our members. For us, those issues would be tax policy and campaign finance to begin with. We could certainly discuss other issues, my stance on drug policy is pretty apparent, but I don't think there is enough concensus with that one to drive activism like I believe there is with tax and campaign finance reform. And those are the people who we WANT to lose. People who cannot be flexible on matters of public policy are already locked into one or the other of the majors and nothing I can say will change that. The passion will come from those who feel disenfranchised currently because they don't have access like corporations, unions, and the wealthy do. The passion will come from people who want to see the tax code simplified. Middle ground is what is needed for the other issues. What I am fighting against is the us vs. them, black vs. white, left vs. right madness that prevails in Washington these days. If we had a third party that had even 10% of the Congress, a concensus would be needed with 2 of the 3 parties to get things done rather than the status quo, an all or nothing affair.
This could be exactly how we start. We begin by having conversations about what we stand for, influence local elections and over time, run our own candidates in races we can make a good showing in. The key, I think, is starting.
They were trying to catch the far left and got more numbers (especially in CA) by using Green. I wanted to be a Green until I read the platform.
Maybe we could call it the "Third Rail Party" and handle all of the topics that the majors won't touch with a ten foot pole. Campaign Finance Reforming the tax system Locking SS funds from the general fund to prevent "borrowing" Prohibition Etc.
