Holiday Weekend Headlines

Some headlines for the holiday weekend:

• Third Party and Independent Daily is now on Twitter! I finally set up TPID's Twitter page the other day, just in time for the "official" campaign season.

• The Texas state legislature and the Democratic-Republican one-party state: "Let's focus on the 150-member House of Representatives . . . In 62 districts the Republicans on the ballot have no Democratic opponents. And the number of Democrats getting a free pass from Republicans is 45. This means that in 107 districts, or in seven out of every 10, the Republican or Democrat on the ballot should be getting ready for the 82nd Legislature."

• The Arizona state legislature and the Democratic-Republican one-party state: "two months before the general election, more than one quarter of the seats in the next Legislature are all but decided. For 22 candidates, the Nov. 2 election is less a contest and more a waiting game. They either have no challengers or face nominal opposition from third-party candidates who don't have the funding or the political-party apparatus to wage a competitive campaign."

• IL: Vote Third Party for Real Change: "Many say that voting for a third-party is throwing your vote away. Who buys in to that statement? The Democratic and Republican parties do. They don't want you to vote for someone else . . . I refuse to accept the lesser of two evils, to accept my vote doesn't matter, and to let the Democrats and Republicans continue to offer us subpar ideas, inaction, incompetence and corruption from their candidates. I'm voting Whitney."

• Illinois' third party candidates face a serious barrier in their lack of name recognition. According to a recent poll by the Chicago Tribune, the wide majority of respondents had never even heard of the Green and Libertarian party candidates for US Senate, LeAlan Jones and Michael Labno.

Happy Labor Day!

Child's Play: Building a Popular Opposition to the Democratic-Republican Two-Party State

The inability of the Democratic-Republican two-party state to adequately represent the interests of the people of the United States is so obvious even a child can recognize it. Consider the case of 12 year old Connor Brantley from Fort Worth Texas. Anna Tinsley reports for the Star Telegram:

Connor Brantley is just 12 years old, but he's already tired of the bitter partisanship in politics. And he's ready to do something about it. The McLean Middle School seventh-grader is working to create the United Party to someday give voters and politicians alike an alternative to the strong two-party system of Democrats and Republicans.

"It's so partisan in Washington," Connor said. "Just think, if [members of Congress] could just one day work and actually do what they are elected to do . . . If they could just work together without partisanship ... they'd actually work together to get things done."

Connor is on the verge of filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to create the party.

As with so many mainstream media articles on third party activism, a political science professor is on hand to argue that any and all opposition to the legacy parties is doomed to failure:

"The two major parties get the vast majority of votes," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "It's nice that he has an interest in politics and a concern about the current state of our political affairs. But the more he learns about how steep this hill is, the better Little League will look to him."

To his credit, Connor appears unperturbed:

Connor said Texas politics are frustrating as well, such as the battle for the House, where Republicans hold an edge. "I just want real representatives to go and represent us -- pass legislation that will be best for Texas and not worry about who has a majority," he said.

For now, Connor plans to file a statement of organization to register his party. Then he'll try to raise money, get the word out and start working in smaller states to try to get candidates on ballots. He envisions someday holding a one-day primary nationwide. "Whoever has the most popular votes in that one day will be the nominee for president," Connor said.