Third Party Talk Radio: Breaking through the Duopolized Discourse

One of the enduring myths of the revisionist history that frames the duopolized discourse of our politics today is that the American third party and independent political tradition is little more than a footnote to the grand narrative of the Democratic-Republican two-party state. Yet, just because a tradition is ignored, this does not mean it does not exist. Darcy G. Richardson is an author, historian and veteran third party and independent political activist, who is in the process of writing a comprehensive seven volume history of the American third party and independent political tradition. Earlier this week, he was interviewed on the Jacksonville Observer radio show resulting in a discussion of everything from the history and development of the so-called "two-party system" to the most powerful third party groups and personalities from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, not to mention third party politics today. The interview is about half an hour long (if you fast forward through the commercials) and makes for great talk radio.