The Third Way
By Mitch Berg
Yesterday, in the latest installment of my “What The Hell…” series on the MNGOP (which may soon top my “Twenty Years Ago Today” series for longevity), Chad the Elder from Fraters Libertas left a comment:
At what point do we just say enough is enough and start all over with a new party? The current version of the Republican Party of Minnesota has proved incapable of taking advantage of a politically favorable climate and can’t even manage its internal matters. There is no leadership right now and I don’t see any on the horizon either. I’m usually aversive to third party talk, but short of moving to another state, what other option do conservatives in Minnesota have? No matter how much bailing we do, this ship is going down
Great question.
It was in 1995, after a stunning electoral win, that I left the GOP. Part of it was the 1994 Crime Bill; I thought that if the GOP could acquiesce with such a noxious piece of legislation when they held the political uppoer hand, what good were they? I mean, they were happy to take money from all of us gunnies – and then they screwed us?
Part of it was the ongoing legacy of Arne Carlson. He was a Republican who governed more like a liberal than the DFLer he replaced. He spend surpluses like a meth whore with a stolen platinum card.
I’d had enough. I joined the Libertarians, and even ran for office (and won at least a moral victory).
And then I looked at what it’d take to make the Libertarians – or any “new”, as opposed to “Third” , party a contender.
Think about it:
- A presence statewide- as in, people, on the ground, in all 134 House Districts, organizing…
- Volunteers – the people who drop the lit and plant the lawn signs and make the phone calls – are effectively employed. Of course, volunteers, at least beyond the tiny fringe of true believers any party will draw at least a few of, only tend to come out if you show the slightest chance of actually mattering. Which comes from having that “statewide presence” above, as well as…
- Money – yep, it’s the oil that greases the skids of American politics. And while you can work the odd little miracle here or there without much of it, retail politics is much better with than without. Which means you need…
- Fundraising infrastructure – you need money people; people with money, and (more importantly) people who can talk people with money out of that money for a new party. Oh – and as we’ve discovered in the MNGOP, you need…
- Management – Parties like the Constitution, the Greens, and the Libertarians tend to be “run” by people who are long on ideological zeal, and short on accounting, fundraising, and people-management. And that’s OK – because there’s no money to account for, nobody donating more than the odd few bucks, and nobody to manage. Once you get to the level where you have fundraising going on, and payroll to make, and schedules to follow, and FEC and MNCFB rules to be aware of? All the zeal in the world is of no use if you wind up broke, with unpaid workers and disorganized campaigns and in a world of hurt from the Feds and State.
Can it be done? Sure – anything can be done, with enough time and/or money. The Independence Ventura Party keeps soldiering on – but they are fading fast, for exactly the reasons I showed above. While they took off in the wake of the Perot-Ventura years with at a thin film of organizing acumen (from the likes of Dean Barkley and Tim Penney and other experienced major-party pols who knew how the ground game was played) and lots of media savvy (let’s be honest, that’s most of it), in the years since Ventura left office, it’s deteriorated into more of a Chess Club for pseudo-moderate wonks who like to fantasize about monkeying with the levers of power. They will lose major-party status one of these years.
The Greens? They show how far you can go purely on ideology. They won enough votes to earn major-party status for a couple of cycles, and had enough drooling acolytes in the Metro and on college campuses to at least ape the rough outlines of an “organization”, and a base of sympathizers that got them enough electoral success to be minor players in Minneapolis’ more granola-and-birkenstock-y neighborhoods. But as with all things built on pure zeal? The Greens are fading – partly because zeal fades, and partly because the DFL is becoming more radical and moving farther to the left; there’s less imperative for a “green” party.
So along about 1998, I realized my choice was this:
- Remain in a “perfect” party that reflected 90-odd percent of what I believed (although the 100-percenters in the Libertarian party sure give you hell about any impurities) that had zero chance of ever having an effect on policy, or…
- Rejoin a GOP that was very flawed, but had both the infrastructure and depth it took to actually affect things, and the potential to be won over to something much more amenable to me.
So – wanna start a party?
Tomorrow – the good news.
December 20th, 2011 at 9:14 am
I’ve caucused with the Independence Party, and like Mr. Berg am a small “L” libertarian. They are all frustrated Republicans. The MNGOP has done a poor job. For a long time.
December 20th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Could part of the issue being that if you are a smart, successful person out in the real world, the thought of running for office and getting attacked non-stop, does not appeal to you?
December 21st, 2011 at 10:23 am
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner in Chuck’s comment.
December 21st, 2011 at 10:43 pm
I’d like the leave us alone party. Anything that is not a public need (infrastructure, police, fire, military, taking care of the truly disabled) is left up to private industry and regulations will be cut back at least 50%