How to set up a third party in the USA (Part Two)

(Feel free to skip this intro if you read part one)

We're living in interesting times.

That's part of an old Irish curse, to be living in interesting times. And after 3 years of this crap, I'm starting to understand why. Interesting times are usually interesting because of how much is possible, but that doesn't mean it's all positive. Usually we talk about how many things are breaking and how this may not be repairable, etc etc etc, and that no one is going to be held accountable. It's depressing as hell.

But today, let's continue to talk about a possible positive, something that we have a unique opportunity to do because of all of this "interesting time." I think the time is here for a third (or more) party in the USA.

This is a dream shared by many, that the "Land of Opportunity" might give us an opportunity to choose between more than two warring groups. As one of the last developed nations to have more than two parties, the USA is watching everyone else pull ahead while we become more and more bitterly divided, and more people are chased to the extremes by necessity and passion. I myself, while not being a Democrat nor an outright liberal, do not have a choice anymore when it comes to voting. I don't like what the Democrats do (or more to the point, how they do it) but I cannot vote for a corrupt and immoral party like the GOP. So in essence, I have no choice left.

But is that really true? How many people feel like I do? How many people are sick of the either one or the other battle, unable to actually talk about solutions because we're too busy fending off the attacks of the "other?" How many people are sick of the argument that we cannot act on something for fear of driving people to the "other side?" And how many people are sick of politicians promising that they'll fix what the last guy broke, only for the other politicians to say the exact same thing, while both break the whole thing over and over again?

It must be exhausting to try to deal with such a bi-polar nation. I pity any diplomat having to deal with the USA.

Maybe there is more support than ever before, but we're all so tired of fighting each other that we don't see the opportunity before us. Maybe it's time to change that.

Right now there are three large constituencies that I think can make a strong third party:
1) Young people disillusioned by the decades of fighting and lying
2) GOP members pushed out by an increasingly unstable cult
3) Moderates who haven't given up and joined the Democrats

I'm going to go through all three in a series of posts and explain who they are and how we can get them mobilized for a third party. And today we're going to visit the GOP.

Ask any American what they think of the Republican Party today, and you're likely to hear one of two answers:
1) The only party who understands what this nation needs as it fights for freedom against communism, globalism and the demented progressives
2) A cult of sociopaths and dumbasses who gave up all dignity and credibility to follow a stupid criminal. 

A lot of things in this nation as frantically polarized, but none more so than the view of the nation on the GOP. Even the Democrats don't have such attention on the nature of their party, despite the attacks on members of the party and their stances. There is a movement to define an already narrow party as even more narrow, having only one possible worldview.

This isn't something that just happened. For decades purges in the GOP pushed out moderates, anyone interested in compromise, and those who didn't follow party leadership. It is only with the onset of the Trump cult that it has gone to full extremes, with anyone who doesn't bow to the godking being primaried or pilloried by the party and its base. 

The ones who remain think it makes them stronger, more pure. The other side points to this as the end of the GOP and more power for them. They're both wrong.

The GOP is a skeleton of what it once was, despite party unity. It is bleeding members, seats, and ability to win an election without gerrymandering, fraud or massively misleading campaigns. In this they are not unique, just far more prevalent. This desperation isn't a death knell, though; it is a common mistake to think that them being cornered makes them weak. With nothing to lose and nowhere to go, they have every motivation to win and their base has every motivation to keep them in power. Without them, their entire cause dies ignored.

But the loss for them of members due to this, or loss of seats, must translate into gains for the Democrats in a two party nation, right? Not really. Like I said, losing in the GOP doesn't mean you have a home in the other viable party. In fact, some of the most reasonable GOP members were not ousted by their own party, but by Democrats running against them in less conservative places, such as Oregon. This doesn't exactly endear the supporters of said Republican to the Democrat party, and more likely than not they simply will not vote.

Or they will vote independently. While on it's face, this should mean that they are not a contender for the third party coalition I'm suggesting, because they're already voting for third parties. But that's the thing: they are spread out among the Constitution party, the Libertarians, the Independents, etc. There is no unifying call to gather, unlike with the two major parties, and a party cannot exist simply by defining itself on what it is not.

So in order to harness the people pushed out of the GOP, this new party would have to give it a reason to exist. And to my mind, no better reason for a conservative party to exist can be found than to act as the moderating voice of patience. 

It is philosophically the place of a conservative party to slow down progress. And I don't say that as a negative; progress is not positive in and of itself. Conservatives shed light on the value of what is, remembering useful traditions and keeping the base of itself strong. A party built without this element cannot last long without exhaustion, as the Democrat party found out in 2016. 

So my proposal here is that the Republicans pushed out by the Trump cult thrive as the base of this new third party, helping to temper the proposals of the young population and lend context to their ideas. You'll not find a better sparring partner for proposals, and if you can find something in the debate that works for both, you've spanned most of the divide between the people of this nation. With this combination, you can speak to not just a segment of the population, but the spread. 

So what do you think? Is it possible to combine these elements? Would Republicans join the usually progressive young? Would debate be possible?

Join next time for what I think is the key to making this combination work as a viable third party. \