Iwrote an article in September of 2004 entitled Nader’s Truce: A 3rd Party Coalition. This was after watching Nader say on Bill Maher’s show that he thought the anti-war, anti-globalist left should hold out an olive branch to the anti-war, anti-globalist right. I applauded that. After receiving an email from a man who was endorsing a 3rd Party unification website at http://reregistertovote.com. I responded about my ire at Nader for having his book published by Rupert Murdoch. The man admitted that Nader had been published by Murdoch, but insisted Murdoch had nothing to do with Nader leaving the Green Party. Nader was supposedly kicked out of the Green Party. I didn’t even mention Nader’s Skull & Bones campaign adviser, Donald Etra.
However, the man sounded sincere and I got to thinking, why not build an encompassing 3rd Party – I call it 3rd Party USA. First and foremost, the differences in ideology between the third Parties are significant, making unification seem almost impossible. Even the nearly identical Libertarians and Constitution Party are split over abortion, and peripherally drug policy. The Libs themselves are actually divided over abortion, but many agree with the Greens on the issue. However, the Greens want to “reform” the U.N., while the Libertarians and Constitution Party want to pull out. These are just two of the plethora of issues that would cause friction amongst a 3rd Party coalition.
Position selection for the various candidates is another conflictive issue. In my article, I suggested that we have someone run for President, for VP, for Secretary of State. We would essentially name 3rd Party USA’s Cabinet before the election. One reason a man runs for president is ego, plain and simple. How would you delegate posts? It would be an intense situation.
What if we were able to bring four or five major third parties together under one banner? It would be incredible! If third parties had no net increase in votes, our conglomeration would poll at upwards of 10%. That is not even taking into account the fact that this would generate mainstream news promotion. We could suck off, say, 5% of the Democrats, 5% from the Republicans. That puts us at R: 40%, D: 40%, 3PUSA: 20%. Now, increase everything exponentially by bringing disenfranchised voters out to ‘Rock the Vote.’ I read a lot about the Anarchists, and they don’t vote. Just motivating that movement would bring in an extra 2%. In essence, half the country does not vote in Presidential elections. By increasing voter turnout, 3rd Party USA would be gaining points while decreasing the other parties’ totals. Remember, every vote that is added from a former non-voter is worth more than one vote. Each new voter increases the pool, thereby decreasing the Democrat and Republican percentages. By adding 10% from the non-voting pool, the numbers would reflect a darn good chance at the title. They would be approximately R: 35%, D: 35%, 3PUSA: 30%. Now we’re getting somewhere.
Another factor: voluntarily agreeing to come together will give us a shot at polling 15% three times. This would make it mandatory for the Repubs and Dems to let us debate. A 3rd Party coalition would be able to join forces with petitions, securing all 50 state ballots. Being on every ballot, and exposing our ideas through the National Debates, would be so special - it would make history. Even if we lost the first try, third Parties would make media coverage obligatory, simply by the sheer thunder of our alternative political movement. We could keep the momentum going and find a fair system to promote our Congressional candidates every two years. If we could just get more Ron Pauls and Bob Barrs and Cynthia McKinneys in (but under the “independent” banner), life would definitely get better.
Let me espouse that I do not think this will happen. No one will listen to me, and thus we will remain fractured, playing right into the hands of the Illuminati and the New World Order. Yet, I continue.
The first question that should be asked is what can we absolutely agree on. It’s real simple. We run anti-war and anti-Patriot Act. It’s as simple as that.
Every major 3rd Party audibly protested the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, upon further discussion, we might be able to agree to say a 25% military budget cut. We all know that our foreign intervention is the cause of many problems for our country. Neutrality has served countries like Sweden and Switzerland very well. This by no way means we will be isolationist. We have never been hermitic, as the Americas are monumental trading continents, containing an overabundance of natural resources that beg to be processed and traded. Thomas Jefferson is claimed the forefather of classical liberalism and of libertarian conservatism, proving that the two sides can be one. Jefferson said: “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none.”
A 25% reduction from the military budget will make America safer. By bringing home troops from foreign lands unnecessary to the aspirations of America; and by paying honest, loyal National Guardsmen who protect us at home; we can once again gain strength through defense and diplomacy. No blood need be spilled.
The decreased military expenditures will amount to about a 15% decrease in the overall budget – billions. A secondary platform created for 3rd Party USA is what to do with this money. We will have to make an agreement that taxes will not be raised or lowered during a 3PUSA reign. This will assuage the socialistic Greens and the laissez-faire conservatives. This is the only way to get lefties and righties together under one tent. Nullify the tax issue for the present. Mass global slaughter is a little more important at the moment.
I suggest that we say we are going to use the money saved from the military budget to get completely out of debt from the Federal Reserve private banking monopoly. Just the rhetoric alone will put the supposed anti-war Democrats and the supposed fiscally responsible Republicans to shame. The creation of one or two more banks, to compete for the Fed’s business, should be on the agenda. Simply telling the American people that we are going to make our military stronger while paying down the debt in record time would assure stiff competition for the sold-out major parties.
As mentioned earlier, a major tier of our platform should be the complete repeal of the Patriot Act, Patriot Act II, Victory Act, and any fascistic or tyrannical legislation. We should be able to agree on selling to the public our intention of making legislative pork illegal. No longer will we allow them to tack Hitlerian national ID legislation onto the end of a war supplemental (although, the war supplemental would also be vetoed by 3rd Party USA. In fact, the war would end immediately, by Executive Order if necessary.)
Here is where we get into sticky territory. The Left quotes the Bill of Rights, saying the Government can’t breech the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments. However, these same socialist Bill of Rights quoters are often eager to claim that the 2nd Amendment should be nullified. This makes being your friend very difficult. Do you not realize that gun control is the weapon used by dictators, and often sold as a “peaceful” or “ordered” measure? Mao, Stalin, Hitler: all confiscated guns prior to purges. The Left will one day come to the stark reality that they would never have had a 1st Amendment had it not been for the 2nd. The 1st and the 2nd insure everything else. If Greenies and left independents can’t see where they are wrong about owning guns, then we will have to agree to leave everything as it is for now. No new gun laws, no repeals except for sunsets. That should be a compromise we can agree on for the sake of our country.
Back to the plank, we will promise to give everyone their right to a fair trial, attorneys, and humane treatment. We will insist that no libraries, bank accounts, or Internet activity be monitored without evidence and a judge’s written order. 3rd Party USA will demand that all speech, protest, religion, and assembly be allowed, and it must redress any and all grievances by the people. Under the mantra of “No Patriot Act”, we can restore some sort of semblance to sanity in our society.
Another area of opportunity for our movement is the devolution of power back to the States. For instance, Libertarians and Greens favor drug legalization, but the Constitution Party does not. However, the Constitution Party does believe in States Rights. Perhaps they could agree that we should let the States decide what drugs are legal, and which are not. I bet they would go for it, as the Bill of Rights actually delineates this power to the States via the 10th Amendment. Perhaps we could even agree to make abortion a State issue. California and New York would fund 8-year-olds to get late-term abortions without parental consent. Texas and Florida would probably keep it legal, but disallow government funding. Alabama and Mississippi could finally make abortion illegal. This would allow abortions for anyone willing to travel, but would insulate Christian communities from having to administer culture of death practices. Personally, I think abortion is murder. I think that the Constitution Party has a valid argument making this a Federal issue. Washington D.C.’s primary job is to protect life, liberty, and opportunity. However begrudgingly, I think that having the Federal Government involved will, as usual, only make things worse. Therefore, simply overturning Roe v. Wade might be agreeable, which would NOT make abortion illegal, but simply make it a State issue.
The point is we could compromise some things by devolving power back to the people, via State’s Rights. Internally, instead of a democracy, 3rd Party USA will be a unanimous republic. If one member-party can’t agree with the others, we will concede to make the point moot. In other words, we won’t make new laws or repeal old ones when a compromise can’t be found. We will leave things as they are.
Another suggestion: 3rd Party USA should conduct an audit of the Federal Government another platform stance. The Pentagon has pilfered $3 trillion plus in the last decade. Social Security has been pilfered, which is why we are having the current “crisis.” As with everything, we will rectify the accounting by unanimity. If the Parties agree to increase or decrease funding for certain programs or projects, or even dissolve a bureaucracy or two, that is what will happen. If the Parties can’t agree on an increase or decrease, we will stagnate spending.
It should be taken into account that Senate and Congress will be almost entirely Republicans and Democrats. Even if 3rd Party USA won the Presidency, it would be four years of vetoing the major parties’ legislation. However, if 3rd Party USA won the Presidency, we could take our ideas to the people and be assured of media coverage. When President Nader (or Ventura, or Paul), Vice President Badnarik, Attorney General Cobb, or Secretary of State Peroutka says, “We’re trying to cut spending so we can save the country from bankruptcy, but the Democrats and Republicans are stonewalling,” the major parties will be inundated with letters and calls from constituents telling them to get on the ball, and make our government solvent. If they don’t, we will assuredly see Congressional seats being picked up by us, or by individual 3rd Party members. The key is that we must control the debate.
Finally, many people would not run for a cabinet position of 3rd Party USA because they feel they can get more attention for their causes by running for President on their respective tickets. We can bypass that obstacle by sharing. The Presidential candidate will get 25% of the total, the VP will get 20%, the Secretary of State, 15%, etc. Each Party will have their individual donations, which can be used as they see fit.
We come to the following:
It should be decided what 3rd Party USA’s platform will be. Here is a bullet-point list.
That would be enough for a win IF there were a perceived viable candidate or party running on the above platform. Speculatively, 1/3 of the population is anti-war, knew John Kerry was not anti-war, but voted Kerry anyway because they thought he was less anti-war than Bush. 1/3 of the population will not vote for us BECAUSE we are anti-war. Of the remaining 1/3, we could pick up about 10% from the Republican base, the old Goldwater conservatives, because of the anti-Patriot Act platform. Another 5%, especially the centrists, will like the audit of their tax payments. Only the most Machiavellian would attempt to argue against free speech. It’s a universal platform. With those numbers, 3PUSA is sitting at about 48%, which would be a win. The Democrats and Republicans would be in disarray. During the succeeding reconstruction of the two major parties, we can establish ourselves on a national basis as individual parties in a new multi-party, rather than bipartisan, system.
The key phrase in the preceding paragraph is, “IF there were a perceived viable candidate or party running of the above platform.” How would 3rd Party USA become viable? First, we would need, minimally, the major 3rd Parties to unite, thus pooling votes and generating publicity. Second, we need money.
Let us use my former example, appointing 3rd Party Presidential candidates from 2004. Ralph Nader would be the most obvious choice. However, Nader may not ever warm to the idea of a 3rd Party coalition if he stays chained to Rupert Murdoch and other neo-cons. If he adopted the 3rd Party USA principles, which he has espoused many times over, then I believe his celebrity and his lengthy fight against corporatism should be rewarded. Nader would be 3PUSA’s Presidential candidate. It’s hard to imagine a rival to Nader for this slot, but I can think of a few. Congressman Ron Paul would be an excellent choice. He voted against the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act. He is a national politician, giving him automatic clout. Jesse Ventura might be a distinct and experienced choice, and Governors typically win the White House. Remember, the only agenda is the party platform. After that, every third party represented in 3rd Party USA will have a veto on proposed legislation. Taxes will remain constant. Gun laws won’t change. Abortion will continue, unfortunately. Whenever we can unanimously agree that any issue is a States’ Rights issue, it will be so. On questions of budget, we will haggle. Congress will never pass our laws, so it will be largely a matter of vetoes. Incidentally, I don’t think Bush has yet to veto a bill in six years.
We will choose in order ideologically. If Ralph, a leftie, is presidential nominee, then the Libertarians should get the VP slot. This is also because it is the oldest third party with the most officials in elected office. The LP received the second most votes to Ralph Nader in 2000 and 2004. In 2004, Michael Badnarik was on more State ballots than any other third party candidate. The ticket, therefore, is Nader/Badnarik, running against war and for free society. Perhaps a Nader/Paul or Paul/Nader ticket would better represent the new Green/Libertarian unification. However, if Ron Paul were to run, we would have one less freedom advocate in Congress, and that would be dangerous.
For argument’s sake, let’s say we could somehow wrangle a Nader/Badnarik ticket. Nader brings a name, and Badnarik’s Libertarian Party brings the best-organized grassroots movement of any third party. It doesn’t matter who runs for LP, we always get on the ballot in 48 or 49 states. In 2004, nobody else broke 40 ballots. If this were our ticket, we would give Secretary of State to David Cobb of the Green Party. His job would be the obstruction of all draconian legislation conjured up by our occult-laden, secret society government. As Secretary of Defense, Constitution Party’s Michael Peroutka would oversee the dismantling of our foreign occupations and the defensive rebuilding at home. Maybe we could get Cynthia McKinney to be the Secretary of State, and David Cobb might play the role of Attorney General. Heck, 3rd Party USA might get Bob Barr and Tom Tancredo involved. 3rd Party might be the beginning of a migration of major party defectors into the 3rd Party movement.
The Vice Presidential contenders from the individual third Parties would be assigned posts such as Secretary of Education or Secretary of Agriculture.
With an entire Cabinet pre-picked, all running on the proposed party platform, 3rd Party USA would become a reality. If 3rd Party USA were created in this manner, funding for the campaign would become the next obstacle. Fundraising is not my area of expertise, and I will leave that to the more qualified. I do suggest some overall methods in the “Election Budget” section.
It is understood that 3rd Party USA is not a cohesive 3rd Party. A short list of candidates would be one or two celebrities (Nader, Ventura, Paul), and the presidential and vice-presidential candidates from each participating party. Minimally, we should hope to have independents, and the Libertarians, Greens, and the Constitution parties. There is an argument that were, for example, a Libertarian to run on his own ticket as President, he would have much more face time, even though he would assuredly lose. Ignoring the fact that the mainstream media gave Badnarik and Cobb virtually no airtime in 2004, there are other ways to assuage the contenders.
Each individual party should raise funds and undertake their primaries in whatever fashion they each choose. Once the candidates are all selected, positions will be assigned.
Let us assume Badnarik wins his primary, and would run as president on the Libertarian Party ticket. He joins 3rd Party USA and is assigned the Attorney General slot. The Libertarians raise $5 million. They should be able to spend that money in whatever fashion they see fit. They may decide to promote 3PUSA by marketing Badnarik as a great Attorney General selection. Or, they may decide to put some of their money into advertising for Nader and the 3rd Party movement in general.
However, once 3rd Party USA announces its candidates, it should immediately begin fundraising. 3rd Party money will be allotted, each candidate getting a portion of the total, sans operating costs. Nader, as presidential candidate, would be allotted the most money, with 20% of the total being used for Nader ads. The VP candidate will receive 15%. Attorney General, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense would get 10% each. This would allow everyone to advertise for themselves and their individual parties, yet 100% would support 3rd Party USA.
There should be two plans of attack for the new 3rd Party Executive Branch. One, a steady barrage of media speeches stating that we must get out of foreign wars and we must repeal the Patriot Act and other legislation that limits freedom for the U.S. citizen. We must challenge Congress to pass bills that reflect our traditional beliefs of liberty and military neutrality. The American people must face this History. The White House press corp. will have no choice but to air our demands. Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill must enact such laws or face 3rd Party USA ousting in the next Congressional elections.
Second, the President must veto any bill that is not agreed upon by all 3rd Party USA members.
The audit, the budget, and the establishment of a competitive national bank will round out the first four years with intensive tasks. However, there are a few other areas of complete agreement that 3PUSA members might rally behind.
The first is national sovereignty, and specifically the loss of it. We might be able to agree that all trade agreements that cede U.S. authority for cheap labor must be repealed. NAFTA and GATT should be allowed to sunset. CAFTA and the FTAA should be exposed for the corporate looting ventures that they are.
This could lead into an entire anti-globalization plank. Along with insanely detrimental trade agreements, 3rd Party USA might agree that the WTO, World Bank, World Court, and IMF are adverse to America and the World’s interests. The Greens, I believe, favor the U.N. (and probably the World Court), so we may have to compromise. Overall, though, the Greens know that the globalization being perpetuated by the Elite is harmful to everyone except the military/industrial complex.
Too, if we are to denounce a World Court, it becomes incumbent that we prosecute our global crime syndicate. George Bush, Jr. and his Neo-con lackeys are war criminals. The entire Iraq War is a debacle. Innocents are tortured and dead. There were no WMDs. There were no links to Al-Qaeda except for the fact that both Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein were created and sometimes controlled by the CIA. Thus, the Skull & Bones administration must be punished, or we will have no argument against a world court. For depleted uranium alone, top members of the Bush Administration should be either put to death, or given life of hard labor without the possibility of parole.
Furthermore, all members of Congress and the Senate who voted to give the President cart blanche power to start and operate the war should be tried, and minimally censured and fined for being lax in their duties. A second trial would punish those voting for the Patriot Act without reading it. This is complete dereliction of duty, and there must be consequences.
Plank 5:
These are just a few ideas that I had for building a 3rd Party coalition. Michael Badnarik and David Cobb might as well have been members of the same party in 2004. Together they stood up to the police state. The pair went to the Presidential debate in St. Louis with court orders to serve demanding that they be allowed to speak. They were arrested, transported, and booked for demanding that right. Together, they went to Ohio, fighting the black box voting and fraudulent vote counting (while John Kerry hid away in his New England fortress.) The two men worked diligently together, and without that cooperation, I don’t believe 3rd Parties would have gotten any attention in 2004. Ralph Nader called for unification on national television. Could a staying of the hand concerning abortion bring in the Constitution Party? It is likely that Chuck Baldwin will be 2008’s Constitution Party presidential nominee. Would he, and the rest, join a 3rd Party USA, to fight the Establishment and the destruction of America?
I believe a 3rd Party coalition could win in 2008. It would be written in the annals of History as a blow to the Old World Order. Opposing war is not a fringe movement. Opposing the Patriot Act is not a fringe movement. Desiring fiscal responsibility is not a fringe wish. Understanding globalization is not fringe knowledge. America knows the truth, deep in her soul. The Elite are raping this country, just as they have raped Central and South America, and any other land that suited their fancy.
America has a long history of 3rd Party power. The very first third parties were the Agrarian societies, and the Antimasons. The former showed the power of workers cooperatively taking political action. The latter reflects the fact that secret societies have been manipulating America for many, many years.
I challenge each and every freedom loving America to contact your 3rd Party of choice to beseech a 3rd Party coalition. The most tired and worn out sayings often hold the most truth. United we stand, divided we fall.
Erik Fortman is an author and musician from Texas. His books, Webs of Power and Webs of Power 2, are now available. He welcomes comments at erikfortman@yahoo.com
PERFECTIBILISTS: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, by Terry Melanson
The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship, by Paul & Phillip Collins
Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, by Abbe Barruel
Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith, by James H. Billington
America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones, by Antony C. Sutton