Taking a Look at Political Third Parties

Wednesday's third and final Presidential debate was the straw that finally broke this camel's back. Overcome by a combination of Senator Obama's presentation (and they called Bill Clinton "Slick Willie???") and his annoyingly smirky mug in the background, and Senator McCain's tiredly impassioned but uneven jabs at his opponent, I've decided that I'm going to have to vote my conscience and choose an alternative candidate. Being an American and an independent thinker, that's my right.

I wish I could write in Mickey Mouse (I hear he registered to vote in Florida), but instead I decided to check out what is available for third party candidates. Here in Michigan, the pickings are slim. Out of the crowded field of over 11, only five are on the ballot here.

I liked parts of Ron Paul's message, but he's not on the ballot. For the Constitution Party, we have Chuck Baldwin, and Ron Paul has endorsed him. Baldwin is a conservative radio talk show host, but as an agnostic with a liberal bent, I'm not going to hold that against him. Sure, some people might see him as a right wing nutcase, but on many levels the man makes sense. The articles available on his web site are straight-talking and no-nonsense. I like his message. Unlike our current "popular" candidates, Baldwin isn't promising the moon and the stars to the common man. That's because he knows he can't deliver.

Running for the Green Party, we have Cynthia McKinney. The tree-hugger in me likes the idea of an environmentally based candidate. The Green Party platform includes reform of government "business as usual." In a Green Party world, there would be more than two major political parties, and elimination of the Electoral College. I, for one, think that dinosaur ought to be buried under a million years worth of silt. While some of the platform seems to be way out on the left, I favor parts of their Economic Stability Plan, which calls for true cost pricing, fair business taxes, and a reform of the banking and insurance industries. The Greens also seem to be fiscally responsible, with plans on reducing the national debt.

Ralph Nader is running again, for the Independent Ecology Party, the Peace and Freedom Party and the Natural Law Party. I will admit in front of the entire world that I have voted for Nader in the past. There are parts of his platform that are appealing, including a push to end corporate personhood, a crackdown on corporate crime and a tax on Wall Street speculators. His platform also touts the idea of a national initiative for the American people to decide on such issues as war, taxes or health care. This would hand the power back to the people, and would eliminate the need for the lobbyists and special interest groups that are crowding the halls of Congress.

The Libertarian Party candidate is Bob Barr. While much of his platform sounds like many other third party platforms, what really caught my eye was the party stand on the Federal Reserve Board. The Libertarians believe the Federal Reserve should be a transparent government entity instead of the secretive and seemingly unaccountable enterprise it is today. The Libertarians are anti-war, pro-veteran, would call for tax reform and are pro-Second Amendment.

Finally we have the Socialist Party, and this year's candidate is Brian Moore. Some of the Socialist platform sounds eerily like a few planks of the Democratic platform:

"For these reasons we call for social ownership and democratic control of productive resources, for a guarantee to all of the right to participate in societal production, and to a fair share of society's product, in accordance with individual needs."

In addition to spreading the wealth around to everyone equally, the Socialists believe that all of our natural resources should be publicly owned, including farms. Their international policy is also rather abrupt, and calls for the dismantling of the military, the unconditional withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, abolition of the CIA and NSA, and the disbanding of NATO. Socialists also call for a 30 hour work week with a guaranteed six week paid vacation each year.

There are other parties and other candidates. These are just the ones on the ballot in my state.

Do I think voting for a third party candidate is a waste of my vote? If I wanted to approach the political process like a trip to the casino, I suppose I would have to cast my ballot for one of the two top contenders. The chances of either one of them winning is very likely. But Chuck Baldwin penned an excellent essay regarding voting your conscience.

I'm taking his words to heart and voting on principle.