On Third Parties

[etherial]

I was a paid staffer for Phillies 2008, a Libertarian Party Presidential Campaign. By then, I was already identifying as a Small Government Socialist, so I got an inside view into the Party with an outsider's perspective. George had no intention of winning the election. He had no intention of getting the 5% of votes necessary to win Federal Funding

Comments

[jducoeur]

Contrast with the Libertarian Party, which has never won a single seat in Congress. Or the Green Party, which has never won a single seat in Congress.

This is the heart of it for me: if all you're seriously spending your time and attention on is running for President, then you're too focused on symbolism, and not enough on getting things done.

A *real* third party should be winning *significant* numbers of seats at the local level, and at the very least a *few* Congressional ones. There should be serious primaries, that turn up a *different* Presidential candidate each cycle, showing that there's some depth to the bench. Do that, and I might be willing to believe that you're serious about making a difference rather than just shouting, and are more than just an ego trip for somebody who doesn't understand American governance...