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It’s Time to Join the Third Party Revolution

By the time this article is published, we will all know who will be the next President of the United States. Most Americans will care very little about the result, and for a very good reason: No matter whether the winner is Gore or Bush, life for most of us will change hardly at all.

I do not have a crystal ball, but I know for certain that I am not casting my vote for the winning candidate. For after listening to the candidates, reading what they’ve said, and what has been said about them, I decided not to cast my vote for one of the Republicrats, but to vote instead, like a growing number of Americans, for a third party candidate.

There are a lot of them out there. In addition to the default choices of Bore and Gush, the ballot in Colorado lists Harry Browne of the Libertarian Party, John Hagelin of the Natural Law Party (the Reform Party in some states), Pat Buchanan of the Freedom Party (the Reform Party in some other states), Howard Phillips of the American Constitution Party, Earl F. Dodge of the Prohibition Party, James Harris of the Socialist Workers Party, and David McReynolds of the Socialist Party. My personal third party choice for President of the United States is Ralph Nader of the Green Party.

Nader, in a career of public service spanning over three decades, has shown himself to be a man of honesty and integrity. He is the epitome of a true public servant. Nader has had a more positive influence than Gore and Bush combined in his campaigns for automobile safety, consumer interests, health, the environment, and public involvement in politics. Americans are fortunate indeed to have such an advocate working tirelessly on their behalf.

But even if Nader or another person of his stature were not running for president, I would still vote for a third party candidate. And let me make this clear: I am not throwing my vote away. About half of all Americans of voting age choose not to exercise their right to vote. And it is not because they don’t care, it is because they think it doesn’t matter. They think that politics is more about corporate donations, soft money, lobbyists, and PACs than it is about the average voter. They are probably right.

But what would happen if most of these voters decided to vote for third party candidates instead of staying home on election day? The American political system would be galvanized into action. Campaign finance reform has for many years been a topic of discussion among politicians that have no real interest in taking it beyond the arena of debate. Corporations and PACs lavish money equally on the two major political parties, knowing that in either case they have backed the winner and their influence will be felt. But they may be less likely to buy politicians if the outcome of the election could not be predicted or if a coalition was the probable result.

If third party candidates get enough support, then the media would no longer be able to ignore them. Once that happens, the Demopublicans will no longer get away with running campaigns more concerned with personality and style than with issues. Candidates would be nominated based on their achievements rather than being anointed for having served as vice-president or because Daddy was once president.

And what about the personality quirks of the two major party candidates? If, say, Al Gore’s dishonesty and George W. Bush’s dimwittedness have been exaggerated, then the active presence of other candidates would force the media to focus on ‘real’ topics rather than on beauty contest blemishes. If these personality traits have not been exaggerated, then next time around, the parties should look for candidates of a higher caliber.

The greater and acknowledged involvement of third parties would also mean that a wider range of issues would be addressed. Polls show that senior citizens are more likely to vote than people under the age of thirty. So the issues that are discussed, such as prescriptions for those on Medicare, are more likely to appeal to older voters than to the young, thus perpetuating the cycle of non-voting younger citizens. But if there were candidates who addressed issues of interest to the young, then younger citizens would take a more active part in the democratic process, and influence all the parties to look at the interests of citizens of all ages.

It is in the interest of both Democrat and Republican politicians to maintain the status quo. It works for them, so they perpetuate the myth that a vote for a third party candidate is a vote “thrown away.” Several years ago, though, with the advent of Ross Perot, many Americans started to reject that idea. After allowing Perot to participate in the Presidential debates in 1992, the Demopublicans realized that they needed to marginalize third party candidates. After previously allowing a party whose candidate had received 5 percent of the popular vote in the previous general election to take part in the debates, the debate rules were changed so that a party would have had to receive 15 percent of the vote in the previous general election to participate, thus ensuring that the major parties did not have to share the podium with other candidates.

So when the elections are all over, and you are thinking that all the months of campaigning didn’t matter anyway, you are probably right. The next time around, instead of throwing your vote away, think about voting for a third party candidate, any third party candidate. If enough of us vote third party, we send the positive message to the guardians of the status quo that Americans are serious about our desire for something better. We can influence positive change in American politics. We can regain our voice. We can make a difference.