The importance of a 3rd party alternative in 2020 – by Kenneth Mulvena
Unless you are politically feared, you will not be politically respected. Understanding this fact about politics is crucial to planning the realistic and critical goals that third parties in our democratic process need to have in order to play an impactful role in influencing and eventually shaping American Politics and national policy. While most of America is still clueless as to what Libertarians stand for, there is a common feeling of being wholly disenfranchised by the current state of American Politics.
Libertarians and the American public also share a bleak outlook of the future of the United States if the status quo remains. Another result of this disenfranchisement is that now more of the American voting public than ever before are disassociating from the two major parties and their leadership, rhetoric, and goals. Meanwhile, the party leadership, rhetoric, and goals of Republicans and Democrats continue to further mimic the interactions of rival street gangs rather than ideological political opponents. Libertarians and the American public see Washington as a broken out-of-touch corrupt cesspool that only benefits top political benefactors. In a time when congressional approval is at an all-time low and re-election rates are at an all-time high, the American people are desperate for a truly alternative political movement to instill some fear into politicians and a new perspective into DC. The sad truth is that the biased design of the major political parties’ primary systems will almost make it impossible for an innovative and appealing candidate to win the presidency in 2020. The result of this election will be a public opinion outcome similar to the one we witnessed in 2016 in which most Americans hold record-low opinions of both major party candidates. We will again be trapped with only two bad options, and this cycle of political discontent will continue until American politics spirals into full turmoil. While some might take some pleasure in seeing the demise of a damaging system, this process may involve mass suffering, along with the destruction of American fundamental liberties, civility, and peace. A result of this future would mean seeing many of our loved ones suffer horribly or even die as a result of the civil war.
Libertarians have a better answer than suffering and death: we should stop this tragedy from happening or else we fail to even live up to our fundamental principles of trying to create a fairer and more prosperous world for everybody.
Washington needs the fresh and compelling voice of a libertarian president or at least a libertarian candidate in the mainstream. Do I think the Libertarian party or any other third party has a viable chance at winning the Presidency in 2020? No, but a third party could receive enough votes to heavily influence federal policy over the next decade.
I previously stated that unless you are politically feared you will not be politically respected. This means that you must affect those in power and their ability to implement their legislative goals. If you have no power, they will not care about your ideas. If a third party could amount to a sizable and significant amount of the popular vote (between 8 and 20 percent), in order to throw the entire election, particularly in battleground states, into complete chaos, while having a sizable role in affecting the outcome of the election or how the winner is chosen, it will be a significant victory for that party and their platform, regardless of the winner.
This would show both current major parties that there is now a sizeable voting block that will no longer blindly following the Republicans and Democrats. Instead, politically speaking, it would finally and rightfully send a powerful message to the Washington establishment that if their policies of reckless spending, corruption, and government overreach keep continuing they will finally be on the path to the dustbin of history. It will force them to adopt proposals of this popular 3rd party or risk losing the electorate/future elections.
You need only look to this country’s past to see this in practice. American politics, particularly in the 20th century, is filled with examples of third parties winning a sizable amount of the popular vote, resulting in the major parties adopting many of the issues that the third party popularized. Whether it be in 1912 with the bull moose party, or particularly Ross Perot’s ‘92 Presidential campaign a significant 3rd party candidate getting a noticeable amount of the popular vote directly led to that political era’s agenda being profoundly shaped by the policies of that popular 3rd party candidate, due to both major parties being forced to reach out to those voters.
Look at how much the Green New Deal, a policy initially proposed and popularized by Jill Stein and The Green Party back in 2016, is now playing a significant role in the discussion and platform of many 2020 Democratic candidates. With an emphasis on a Green New Deal, a case can be made that the 2020 Democratic Party platform will be more influenced by Jill Stein than the previous Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
2020 is the best chance a 3rd party and the liberty movement has at making sure the values of small Constitutional government are protected. American politics in the 21st century so far has been defined by massive deficit spending, civil liberty violations, endless wars, and foreign intervention, the continuation of failed initiatives like the war on drugs, and an Orwellian surveillance state emerging; all of which have been dramatically made worse by the current Presidential administration.
It is clear that neither of the major parties is prioritizing individual freedom. A strong 2020 Libertarian candidate may be our last chance at stopping this dystopian authoritarian nightmare from coming to fruition without causing a revolution, mass chaos, and misery. Change is necessary in order to ensure the flame of liberty will continue with a strong and forceful presence to define the next decade of American Politics.