The Third Party Option is the Only Option

It appears that the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests has begun to awaken the spirit of political independence among Tea Party supporters who were uncomfortable with the way in which that movement sold its soul to the Republican party and ruling political establishment.  A disgruntled Tea Party supporter writes to the editor of the Topeka Capital Journal:

I have stated in earlier correspondence my delight in the beginnings and rise of the tea party, but viewed with some disappointment its current state. I was disappointed to watch as it was assimilated within the Republican Party rather than standing on its own merits and ideals. I now watch the Occupy movement with hope, and hope is doesn’t allow itself to suffer the same fate and become the pawn of the Democrats.

What, specifically, the movement’s members propose is still vague and has me holding back. The two movements — the tea party and Occupy — have more in common than either would like to admit but I will pick out the most salient: people who care trying to make a difference.

I am demanding change with my vote. We are in a bad way. Our government is no longer a rational, functional entity. To restore order will take a radical approach. There are different paths a revolution can take. One path is change from without (violent overthrow). This method worked for our ancestors but is not an appealing or workable solution today. Another path for revolution is change from within, through the current framework of Democrat/Republican system.

I propose a third path, a blending of the previous two. I propose change within our framework, but outside the grid-locked duality that we are frustrated with but seem unable to look beyond.

Our lame campaign finance laws have made our leaders the spokespersons of corporations and special interests. The continual musical chair situation of Democrat to Republican to Democrat to Republican is solving nothing. The rise of a third party or third parties would break the stranglehold the big two have on government.

The Internet has opened our world to a greater extent than any other technological advance before it. We now can exchange ideas, shop and trade, and seek information from across the globe from our own homes. Our world is wide open. In such a free and open world it no longer makes sense to limit ourselves from only “column A” or “column B.”

We must make the path by walking it.