Americans Elect: We need a 3rd political party

I’m setting aside my usual scathing comments and satire to share something I’ve always believed our country needs – a third party.

And believe it or not folks, officials have collected 2.4 million signatures and have ensured a place on the ballot in 16 states, including California, for a third party.

“Even as Republicans wage a bitter, intra-party feud for the right to challenge President Obama, a group called Americans Elect is steadily building support — and a 50-state infrastructure — for a bipartisan ticket that could challenge both parties for the White House.”

Our political system is broken. Anyone can see that. Partisanship has peeled away any chance of agreeing on anything. Compromising on anything. There’s a lot of Republicans and Democrats that actually agree with this assessment.  

The Americans Elect Party is planning to nominate a bipartisan ticket — a presidential candidate from one party and a vice-presidential running mate from another — in the hopes of returning to an era when the two parties worked effectively together.

“A growing cadre of politicians from both sides of the aisle who are expressing displeasure with the political system — and the political gridlock it is producing. Just last week, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former governor of Utah and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, voiced support for a third party, saying that the two-party system was broken.”

An online process will choose six finalists in May, each of whom will pick a running mate from another party. And then online voting will conclude in June with a two-person ticket that organizers say will be on the ballot in all 50 states in November. Not everyone thinks Americans Elect is the answer however.

“There is deep suspicion among Republican and Democratic strategists that the Americans Elect effort is secretly aimed at helping one party or the other.

Republicans say the group is part of a plot to re-elect Mr. Obama. Democrats say they believe it’s a front group to put a Republican in the White House next year.

I’m not surprised. Neither side wants to see a third party step into the ring. It would threaten their “party-first, public second,” agendas.

“The group says that more than 2.6 million people have visited its Web site and that about 380,000 people have signed up to be “delegates” to the online convention that will pick the presidential ticket in June. The group has 460,000 Facebook fans.”

I’d love to see a third party change our corrupt system. I readily admit to wanting to see Americans Elect make a big impact this election year. I don’t expect their candidate to win, but if they make a good showing and the party continues to grow…who knows?

Something’s gotta change.

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