| To start with, who am I? Well, I'm Ross Levin. I write for the leading third party political news site on the web, Independent Political Report (although it still gets less traffic than Docudharma, for some perspective), as well as the Green Party/Green movement networking site Green Change. I'm only 16, but I've been involved with third party politics since last May when Mike Gravel - the candidate I supported in 2008 - switched to the Libertarian Party. Since then I've also contributed my time to various third party campaigns, including John Murphy, who ran for Congress as an independent in Pennsylvania in 2008 (also in 2006, but I didn't help him with that). I've interviewed various people in the third party world, including Cindy Sheehan and Richard Carroll, previously the highest-ranking Green in the nation - he was a state representative.
Now, let's take a look at some of the parties and candidates around America who look like they have the greatest chance of success, and who you might be interested in helping in order to further your political goals or just to test the waters of the third party world. Hopefully this can start a meaningful discussion about third parties and progressives and act as a balance against what Something the Dog Said posted against participating in third parties (I'm not trying to be hostile, and I understand what Dog is saying, but I just disagree about the potential impact of third parties).
The Progressive Party of Vermont
This is perhaps the most successful progressive party in the country (I'm not counting the Democrats because they're largely not progressive). Their website is here, and as you can see they have half a dozen officials elected on the state level currently, which is more than any current nationally organized third party (that's the Greens, Libertarians, and the Constitution Party) has ever had. There are five state representatives and one state senator, from various parts of the state. The Progs have also elected numerous local officials, including the current mayor of Burlington, which is the largest city in the state.
The Progressives helped pass gay marriage legislation in Vermont, have a seat on the redistricting committee for the 2010 census, and helped to elect Bernie Sanders to the Senate and House (he helped found the party and is as closely associated with them as he is with the Democrats), among many other victories. Although they're not a huge party, they act as an important check on the power of the two major parties and offer a progressive alternative.
They also provide another, often overlooked service - IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE, READ THIS - in that they create swing voters out of progressive voters. This means that they make it so that Democrats have to compete for progressive votes. Right now nationally 90% of swing voters are centrists, moderates, corporatists, whatever you want to call them - that is why centrists are seen as the end-all-be-all of national politics and why everyone wants to be one. However, if there was a progressive alternative party, then it would make it so that progressives would get that same kind of pandering in rhetoric and legislation from politicians.
State and Local Green Parties: Illinois, Arkansas, California, Midwestern cities, among others
The Green Party's strength in this country is at the local level. They have hundreds of locally elected officials, including a city councilor in Cleveland and the mayor of Richmond, California, a city of over 100,000.
The Illinois Green Party has few elected officials (maybe about a dozen), but they're a recently founded party and they're gaining strength. They have a competitive candidate for both US Senate and governor that I'll look at later in this piece. Their most recent candidate for Congress, who ran in a special election, only had about $2,000 to run on but got 7% of the vote, just showing that if a credible base was built for a progressive party it could do wonders.
The Arkansas Green Party has elected a state representative and a few local officials. It is like the Green Party of Illinois - it is building its size. In Arkansas, it offers an alternative to Conservadems and Republicans. In a 2-way Senate race in 2008 against Conservadem Mark Pryor, a Green got over 20% of the vote (although a lot of that was probably from Republicans).
The California Green Party is very strong. It has tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of members who vote in primaries and the general election. It has a few mayors who have been elected and a bunch of local officials (including the previously mentioned mayor of Richmond). They are currently running Jeremy Cloward in a special election in the 10th congresssional district.
The Minneapolis Green Party and the Madison, Wisconsin Green Parties have both elected city councilors and other elected officials. A state representative was almost elected in Minneapolis last year. This year IRV is being used for the first time in Minneapolis elections and Greens have nominated someone (or renominated an incumbent) for city council in almost every, if not every, district.
These may seem like small victories, but that is how you build a party - from the ground up. I think as the Green brand recovers from the disaster that was Florida 2000, you'll start to see more victories for them.
LeAlan Jones and Rich Whitney in Illinois
Illinois currently has two candidates running in statewide races for the Green Party that look pretty credible. Rich Whitney received over 10% of the vote in 2006 and got the party ballot-qualified by doing this. He's running again, and they say there's a learning curve with elections.
Some of you may remember LeAlan Jones from his reporting for NPR, including the famous Ghetto Life 101, which he produced when he was only 13. He was a prodigy and he still might be, as he runs for Obama's former Senate seat with only 30 years of life under his belt. His campaign has already generated considerable buzz for a third party campaign, including a favorable oped in the Chicago Tribune.
Cam Gordon and other Minneapolis Greens
Cam Gordon is an elected Green city councilor in Minneapolis, and he's running for reelection this year, along with a whole slate of Greens in that city. The Democrat was also thrown off the ballot in Gordon's district, so he's extremely likely to win.
Reverend Billy Talen
A lot of you probably know who Reverend Billy is from his Church of Life After Shopping, his activism in New York City, and the movie "What Would Jesus Buy?". Now he's running for mayor of New York City. He's hoping to raise over $250,000 and mount a credible challenge to Mayor Bloomberg. He's also generating a lot of buzz in the local and national press, and if nothing else his campaign will draw attention and members to the party (and make Mike Bloomberg uncomfortable!).
An effort to build a national progressive third party is currently underway, and the Vermont Progressive Party is actually involved. They are coordinating with other local and state progressive parties - including the newly formed Open Progressive Party of Minnesota and the Peace and Freedom Party of California - to form it. They're only in the beginning stages, but it will be interesting to see where that leads (and if it's the party that disillusioned Democrats might go to in 2010 and/or 2012).
Something else that is often ignored in the discussion of third parties is the actual potential usefulness of the spoiler effect for a political agenda. I'm not denying its destructive potential and the need to have a voting system that minimizes or gets rid of it, but there is a use for it. It can help push an agenda by forcing a major party to lose. Take, for instance, the Prohibition Party. They didn't elect many federal or state officials and never got over a few percentage points in most elections, but they were seen as stealing enough votes from Republicans that Republicans adopted their platform and Prohibition went into effect. It might cause some short-term policy losses, but utilizing the spoiler effect can lead to long term policy gains. It's not totally effective and I'm not sure it can even be done on purpose, but that is one of the advantages of a third party (if it works) - you can push a somewhat or outright radical agenda without political consequences, and it can work its way into the mainstream through either the spoiler effect or just time and the mainstream view of things shifting.
Well, what do you think? |
