What would a third party look like?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

The "sensible centrist" "plague on both their houses" types (eg. Tom Freidman) are always wishing for a third party. They presume it would represent them somehow.

This is absurd. Whatever a third party would be it wouldn't be a boring middle-of-the-road self-congratulatory centrism-fest.

What is the "independent" party's stance on abortion? Presumably centrist... legal but a humiliating hassle to get and subject to a lot of harassing local laws.

I ask you... who is going to flock to that stance? Nobody.

Stay in Afghanistan or go? The centrist answer is stay for a year and a half and then go unless we decide to stay, of course.

Separation of church and state? Seems centrist, but good luck attracting much of this free-floating white rage to any strong policy stance on that position.

Would a third party believe in evolution? Not all that many Americans do, y'know. The disaffected voters are probably split on evolution which, perhaps, sums up the folly of the third party fantasy better than anything.

We "know" that a third party would be fiscal conservative but that is a recipe for economic disaster and a radical stance in today's world.

In fact, the most centrist possible position on the economy is half-assed Keynesianism -- precisely the course we have followed! "Let's have a stimulus package but make it half the size it must be to have the desired effect."

There will never be an upstart centrist party in America. "Centrist" is what most people think they are even if they are, in actuality, raving loons. "Centrist" is one of those all-things-to-all-people deals. Get them together and watch the fur fly.

And all actual centrist positions are already handsomely represented in American politics!

And it follows that there will not be "a third party." There might be a third and a fourth party... say Social Democrat and Ultra-nationalist Gold-standard Dominionist. Or 5 or 8 or 23. But not three.

Face it, smug centrist yammerers. (You know who you are, Mister Broder...) You won. You have a radical RW party (Republican) and a centrist party (Democratic) with the occasional tactical left-lean.

This... the world the beltway CW bloviaters despise... is the world they made.

Own it.

[stray cat]

1. It could be extreme left, up the middle, extreme right or a populist hybrid

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

5. I think social issues would blow up any populist movement

[Fumesucker]

6. We already have an extreme right party..

We also have a falling off the edge of the world super duper extreme right party as well as a center right party.

[pipoman]

2. A spoiler....

[SoCalDem]

3. this

[Fumesucker]

4. You'd have to ask David Broder..

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=high%20broderism

Unless and until our system of campaign financing is fixed any strong third party will look just like the current two major parties because it will be captured by the same interests for the same reasons (big money in order to make even bigger money).

[Pyrzqxgl]

7. depends on how much you had to drink at the first two.

[DCKit]

8. If it splits the (D) vote, mission accomplished.

My tin-foil hat is tightly screwed on tonight.

[Posteritatis]

9. A third party doesn't need to be a "centrist" one anyway

A GOP/Tea Party split certainly wouldn't create much in terms of a centrist party, for instance. Social and economic perspectives on either end of the political spectrum can come into disagreement quite a bit, so something like what's looming in the GOP is a more believable start of a possible third party than one arising ex nihilo on the in-between.

[napi21]

10. Our political system is set up to obliterate any 3rd party.

You think it's been difficult for Obama to get anything through congress, just imagine what it would b elike if a 3rd party candidate won the presidency! Ne/she would have both parties in congress voting against anything & everything proposed.

It'salways a dreamy thing to think about and both sides dream of another party that would support what THEY WANT, but in th real world the US is simply not like a parliment where several different parties are represented by their own reps and each one has a vote. I can't imagine hw we would ever convert to something like that.

[Ozymanithrax]

11. A third party could be organized around existing parties...

Here in California we have the following qualified third parties:
AMERICAN INDEPENDENT PARTY Conservative far right
GREEN PARTY left of the Democratic party
LIBERTARIAN PARTY left and right, ask an individual...
PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY liberal left to moderate left

Additionally, the Tea party was registering people a couple of months back, though I don't know if they were actually registering them as member of a "Tea party."

I think a party could be built around the left. There is a lot of energy there and discontent.

But the Democratic Party has the centrist and center left sewed up tight. If the tea party is successful in forcing the Republicans farther right, there could be a more centrist conservative party. The other Conservative parties are actually to the right of the official Republican Party.

Finally, every state has different laws for registering a party and getting candidates into the election. Texas is the most difficult. In order to run a national party, a lot of money is necessary to develop 50 different state apparatus.

Unless the laws change, there will be no successful third party.

[UTUSN]

12. Uh, it would look like --- LOSING?!1 n/t

[rucky]

13. I'd like to see somewhere between 4 and 23 parties.

I like parties. It'll also confuse the hell out of the mainstream media, with more than 1 1/2 conflicting viewpoints and all.