America Needs A Third Party... NOW! ... by: J. D. Longstreet

America NEEDS a Third Party… NOW!

By: J. D. Longstreet
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We have heard it said that a third party in America doesn’t stand a chance and that the only hope for conservatives is to stay in the Republican Party and work to change it.

Although, that is a good argument, I hold that it is wrong.

Look, we conservatives have been in the Republican Party in vast numbers since at least the Nixon Administration and we have ALWAYS been treated as the “red-headed-step child.” They tolerate us, so they can get our votes every couple of years, and once the ballots are cast, we are shoved back into the basement and out of sight. I can’t speak for you, but I’m tired of it.

It is correct, I believe, that a conservative party will not elect anyone to the Congress or to the White house for a few years, maybe a couple of decades, even, but, here’s the thing, as I see it. As a stand-alone party, we will take a huge chunk of the numbers from the GOP… and a few from the dems. So, when there is a major push on by one party, or the other, to pass a piece of legislation, they are going to need our support to get it done. That means they will have to court us, to woo us, if you will. That alone will give us the voice, and the influence; we do not have, as of today, in the way our government is run.

There is much to be said for being a member of a political party of which one can be proud. Ok. So we don’t have our own congressman/woman, or senator, or president for a while. Do we have one now???, I mean REALLY?

I have been a Republican since I registered on my 21st birthday in South Carolina. I am now 68 years old. (Even before I was old enough to register to vote I was out beating the bushes for Strom Thurman.) When Thurman went Republican, so did South Carolina.

I am ashamed of what the GOP has become. I know it is trite, but it IS true that there is almost no difference between the dems and repubs anymore. That is NOT good for the country. That is why, if for no other reason, a third party is so badly needed. The American electorate NEEDS an alternative to the two old, stale, parties. They have led this country into socialism and that is the “death knell” for democracy.

The Tea Parties, held across America, were, and are, an excellent way to forge a foundation of like-mined Americans interested in rescuing America from the clutches of the socialists who now have a strangle hold on our government, financial system, our auto industry, and soon… our healthcare industry. When do we say enough is enough and begin to fight back. Waiting on the GOP to fight the socialists is wasted time. It is not going to happen. No, the rescue of America must be done from a separate platform, not the republican platform.

It has been said that the Democrats and the Republicans, the two major parties in America, construct such formidable barriers to third parties that third party voting occurs only under extreme circumstances. Well, look around you; if current circumstances aren’t “extreme” in America today… then I don’t know the meaning of “extreme.”

There is no question the republicans and the democrats will throw everything they have at a third party, erect every kind of barrier they can to block that party’s way, and make every effort to steal (They would call it “co-opting”) popular ideas and positions of a third party. It has proven, over the years, to be an effective way to stifle a third party.

On the other hand we can sit back and watch our beloved country go the way of so many others through out history, and that is… to rest atop the ash heap of said history, or, we can TRY to save her.
One of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, once said: "My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!” Mr. Jefferson was correct then… and… he could make that same statement today and be just as correct.

I hope we conservatives will not allow our country to remain in the hands of the socialists now in charge. For socialism, like a disease, eats away at the soul of a country until that country dies.

The next few years are going to be hellish for conservatives as we watch the slow agonizing death of our country. We can sit on the sidelines and watch; we can remain in the Republican Party and hope for change within the GOP, (That option, I’m afraid is the same as sitting on the sidelines and watching!) or, we can TRY to create a third party, a “rescue” party, if you will, and make an effort, at least, to save this country we love so much.

What will it be, conservatives? What will it be?

J. D. Longstreet

E-mail: longstreet1862@gmail.com