by Hess Sherrod

Created on: December 20, 2008

For at least the past three Presidential elections, nearly every American who actually votes has felt resigned to a choice "between the lesser of two evils". Regardless of party, the candidates who have won the primaries and eventually made it into the White House have not commanded a majority of American voters; they have merely convinced more people than "the other guy" that "the other guy" would be a far worse choice for their future.

This has led to the Republican party's attempt to cajole the voters by sliding to the political center, and the Democrat party to slide close to the extreme left in order to pander to groups like NOW and MoveOn.org. What I suggest is therefore not one "third party", but two: the Libertarians, and the Reaganist Conservatives (perhaps better named the "Buckley-ites"). The Libertarians already hold several state and federal elected positions, and occupy the left-central portion of the political spectrum, effectively placing them in between the current Democrat and Republican parties. The Reaganist Conservatives would attract the conservative voters who feel greatly disenfranchised by the Republican party, and would occupy the right-wing portion of the American political spectrum. With access to similar funds for advertising that the Reps and Dems are currently receiving, imagine how much more these two parties could shape the political landscape! I could reasonably see the first non-Democrat, non-Republican President in 2016, with the first "third party" Speaker of the House or Senate Majority Leader following around 2020.

The biggest change would come in Congress, should these two parties each gain at least 10% of the seats in each house. How could we name a "Majority Leader" or a "Minority Leader" with four parties? Would the Minority Leader somehow speak for all three of the out-seated parties? Or would each out-seated party rate their own Minority Leader? What do you call a Majority Leader with less than 50% of the seats, the "Plurality Leader"? Would the Plurality Leader retain the monopoly on seating committees and their chairmen?

How might the primaries change? Would voters be forced to choose one of four primaries to participate in, or might the "third parties" allow anyone to vote, even those who have already chosen their favorite Republican or Democrat candidate? Which colors would be used to describe the states won by these new parties: money-green for the Buckley-ites and ambiguous-purple for the Libertarians? Would all debates be therefore four-sided, possibly five with the addition of another Ross Perot-like Independent? With nearly a dozen candidates for each party's nomination, what a headache that would be! Would Independent remain a party, or merely go back to a description of anyone not a member of a major party?

All in all, I believe the American voters deserve more choice in the 2010 Congressional election and more to actually choose from in 2012 than "left" and "left-er". Give us a true political spectrum, and support the Libertarian and Conservative parties!

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