Just what we all want to hear. No, I’m being serious. I know so many people who don’t like our political system because it’s a two party system and I tell them, vote for a third party. The reason it’s set up this way is because we, the American people, haven’t casted our votes to bring a third party into play with a decent percentage of votes. But this upcoming election may change all that.
I watched McLaughlin Group this weekend and Eleanor Clift, Contributing Editor for Newsweek following the Washington, stated this,
“There will be at least one, maybe two, third-party independent candidacies next year because the two parties will settle on their nominees the first week of February. That leaves nine months until the election; lots of time for buyer’s remorse to set in.
Unity ‘08 will hold a virtual convention in June of ‘08, and they will come up with a bipartisan ticket, a Republican and a Democrat running together. And Mayor Bloomberg of New York is looking at an independent candidacy. He could go with Unity ‘08. He could strike out on his own. He can spend half a billion dollars and not even notice it. So we’re in for more candidates than just the two major nominees.”
I think she’s right, and brings up an interesting thought that many of these candidates will rise up in a third party, and that Unity ‘08 (the group of people who believe neither of the major two parties should win the next presidency) may rise for this election.
What do you think? You think 2008 might be the year to “break the mold” and start to chip away on this country’s two party system?
4 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 10, 2007 at 7:49 pm
gdancik
Thanks for posting this! This is the first that I’ve heard of Unity ‘08, and I’m interested. I’ve always disliked our political system because of the bias against third party candidates. And if third party candidates want to make a mark, the internet is the way to do it. Unfortunately, though, I think virtual conventions will only get them so far, and unless the mainstream media picks up on this, and more people become interested, not much is going to change. It would be great to see a third party candidate in a televised debate, though I’m not sure who’s in charge of these things. I’m also curious as to what exactly does need to be done to change the way that we vote . Though since both democrats and republicans have a vested interesting in keeping the current system, I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
There were some rumors in 2004 about a bipartisan campaign ticket consisting of Kerry and McCain. In general I think it’s a noble idea, though I don’t think it’d be very practical. If the two people did have vastly different views, then who is the president and who is the vice-president? And if both people are failry moderate, I think they’d alienate a lot of voters who felt strongly about certain issues. Anyway, I’m interested in seeing how far this Unity 08 thing goes…keep me posted!
March 12, 2007 at 12:18 am
rubyrigby
I never heard that about the Kerry – McCain ticket, very interesting. Well, when the country first began, the voting process was such that they only voted for President, and the gentleman who came in second was elected Vice President, thus having different parties as President and Vice President. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States
But makes sense to not put both the President and Vice President in the heads of one party.
This was also the first I heard about Unity ‘08, it’s starting to gain some traction and word of mouth, but I think that in today’s technology age, this is the time when some traditions in the election system will start to be challenged. Pretty much the American people have to start educating themselves and getting vocal, and the media will have to meet the demands of the people. And then maybe people will begin to cast their votes outside their traditional party lines.
March 16, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Lead Us Forward
[...] http://2008myvote.wordpress.com/2007/03/06/2008-wont-be-a-two-party-race by rubyrigby 3-6-2007 [...]
March 22, 2007 at 5:20 am
BizzyBlog » Couldn’t Help But Notice (032207)
[...] to be agreeing with Eleanor Clift on anything (about 85% of the way through the transcript; HT 2008 Election Watch via Lead Us Forward), but she’s saying something I’ve said for at least the past six [...]