Does America Need a….Third Party?

Mark Tapscott at the DC Examiner sees that continual haunting political phantom—a new third party!–appearing dimly in the mist of high polled congressional dissatisfaction. He seems to think that a "building the border fence" party is just what we need, though. An excerpt:

It's taken roughly six months for the Democratic congressional majority elected last November to dissipate the public support that put it in power. The latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey finds just 27 percent of those polled approve of the way Congress is doing its work.

……the public has concluded from the smoke and mirrors games being played by the Democrats on earmarks and other ethics reform issues that nothing much has changed since the election. There is thus a growing perception of Washington as a Tweedle-dee/Tweedle-dum kind of place in which the two political parties are merely two sides of the same coin.

This is the single most significant fact about the political landscape—a growing public disgust with both major political parties…..But the more important question then is where does this public disgust lead…..

…..the Tweedle-dee/Tweedle-dum impasse has to be broken as the public's disgust becomes focused on a leader or leaders who offer concrete actions and reforms, like actually building the border fence. Perhaps an insurgent presidential campaign such as former Sen. Fred Thompson appears to be preparing will be sufficient to capture this public focus.

But I doubt that one presidential campaign will be sufficient. The public appears to have concluded both major political parties and their respective leaders in Washington are simply hopelessly out of touch……In other words, the moment may be approaching for an independent, trans-partisan political party, a citizens party if you will, to assume the initiative.

From Dec. 2002, my reason review of a book, The Tyranny of the Two-Party System, by Lisa Jane Disch, calling for "fusion tickets" as a potential way in and up for third parties.

From February of this year, my discussion of the silliness of the "Unity 08" attempt to gin up a "trans-partisan" party.