Serious Political Commentary for Serious Conservatives

	The Independent Voice for Conservative Values and the Conscience of the Conservative Movement Less Government is the Best Government

Third Party Anyone?
Perspectives on a Third Party
Nothing More and Nothing Less!

-by Scott Rohter, November 2011

The question today is whether or not a Third Party would be a good idea!  It wasn’t my idea to speak on this subject. Someone else put me up to it, but I’m kind of glad that they did, because I learned something by writing this article! First, let me say right from the start, that after giving this idea some consideration, I don’t think that it would be a good idea.  So if that’s what you came to find out, then I guess you can all go home now, feeling either reassured or disappointed as you will! But as long as you’re already here, I’d like to give you my reasons for coming to this conclusion. In my heart of hearts, I would like to dump the Republican Party as much as any other real conservative would for all of the times that they have either betrayed the Conservative Movement, sold us down the ‘political river,’ or lied to us in order to get their RINOs elected, who have not fulfilled their campaign promises.  For all of the times that they have compromised on core conservative values, and on the Constitutional principles of limited government, I will tell you right now that the Republican Party has  not been worthy of our registration in it, nor deserving of our loyalty to it!  If there already was an existing Third Party that could better represent my conservative values, and also win a national election, I would already belong to it!  But there isn’t, and a year and a half before this vital election is not the time to begin thinking about starting one! Besides, there already is a Libertarian Party, a Constitution Party, and an Independent Party.  The Constitution Party really does represent conservative values well, but they aren’t a vital political force in our State, or our Country, and they can’t deliver the necessary votes in order to win a statewide or a national election!  Since there are already at least 3 other Third Parties around, the question then becomes whether or not we need yet another Third Party, to even further split the conservative vote!  The answer to that simple question is absolutely not! 

As I said, I would like to dump the Republican Party as much as the next Constitutional conservative would!  For all of the milk toast, easily compromised, RINO Republicans in our ranks that the ‘Establishment’ has always put forward to run for political office. For all of the Nelson Rockefeller’s, the John McCain’s, the George Bush’s (both father and son), the Arnold Schwarzenegger’s, the Newt Gingrich’s, the Carly Fiorina’s, and the Meg Whitman’s, I could almost trade in my Republican Party registration card right now, and become an Independent or a conservative member of the Constitution Party!  Or I could help to start another Third Party, or a Fourth Party, or a Fifth Party, but how would that help my country?  How would that do anything except further split the conservative vote?  And how would another Third Party be any better, or any different, than the existing ones we already have?  Are we going to administer a loyalty test, and have members of a new Party swear an oath of allegiance to a fundamental set of principles?  Remember that Party affiliation is a right that is open to anyone in our country, regardless of political ideology!  A loyalty test would probably be unconstitutional!  Liberals frequently register in the Republican Party in order to undermine the more conservative elements of our Party! Although it is rather devious, it is still a legitimate political strategy!  What would prevent Liberals from registering and infiltrating the TEA Party, or another Third Party for that matter?  The answer is nothing!

Another Third Party might start out 99.99% ideologically pure as the driven snow, but how long do you think that it would stay like that, before the Party elders began to compromise and play footloose and fancy free with core conservative values?  It’s probably safe to say, not for very long!  The problem is not the Party! It’s not even the Republican Party!  The problem is with the people who make up the Party! That’s us!  We Republicans need to be better informed about the candidates and the issues, and better educated morally, principally, philosophically, and politically! We need to have a better grasp of history. It is our job to be informed, and to help inform others, and to promote only those among us who are well grounded in core conservative values, and the Constitutional principles of limited government that we believe in!  A Political Party is not supposed to be a social club where the best liked, or the most popular member among us becomes the prom queen, or the president of the fraternity house!  An elected position within a political Party, or in a public office of trust, is a serious responsibility, and it should not be based upon a personal popularity contest! And once you are appointed or elected, then at least you should return your phone calls! Many of our elected, or appointed officials don’t even do that!

If we started another Third Party, the same foibles and faults of human nature that were present at the founding of our country, and of the Republican Party, would also be present, and ready to split a new Party too! Therefore what would be the whole point of the entire, useless exercise of starting another Party?  If we can’t even beat the forces that we are opposed to within our own Republican Party, then how do we deserve to beat, or even stand against our political opponents in the General Election?  The simple answer is that if we cannot prevail within our own Party, then we are not worthy to stand against the Democrats in the General Election!

So to start another Third Party now, at this late date is an unacceptable alternative! It would just further split the anti-Liberal, anti-Democrat, anti-Obama vote, and allow Obama to get a second term!  That would be unforgivable!  We must not allow that to happen!  We must not allow what Teddy Roosevelt did to the Republican Party in 1912 with his ‘Bull Moose Party’, to happen again in 2012, with the ‘Bull Headed Party’! It is just too late to start a Third Party now, so let’s try to clean up the rather imperfect one we already have!  Perhaps if we had started a Third Party a year or two ago, then we could be better organized by now, but at this late date, with only a year and a half to go before the next election, there is just too much to lose, and nothing at all to gain!  It is not possible to start a Third Party now, without giving the Democrats the victory that they seek in the next election! And this country obviously cannot afford another four years of Barack Obama!

A Political Party is simply a vehicle, Nothing More and Nothing Less!  We must drive the Republican Party in order to drive the debate!  We must take over the Party in order to take back our country!  And we must own our Party in order to make sure that we will continue to have the keys to the vehicle for the months and years ahead, so that we can continue to drive the debate for well into the foreseeable future! We must do this so that we will not be as Ronald Reagan said, “always one generation away” or as I say always one election away “from losing our freedom!”

"The truth, the political truth, and nothing but the political truth. A journalist has no better friend than the truth." - Scott Rohter
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