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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Current Events- Third Parties


James S, Erin S., Cheyenne S.

Third Parties

            Most people have heard of Democrats and Republicans. Very few, however, have ever heard of smaller third parties. Two of the major third parties are the Libertarian and Green parties. The Green Party was formed in 2001 with 10 set key values that they follow. The key values are Grassroots Democracy, social justice and equal opportunity, ecological wisdom, non-violence, decentralization, community based economics and economic justice, feminism and gender equality, respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, and finally future focus and sustainability. Grassroots democracy is basically letting the people have more say in the government and directly involving them in the decision making process. Social justice and equal opportunity is everyone has the right to benefit from the environment and our society, also to confront barriers that separate us. Ecological wisdom is helping protect the environment and learning new ways to replenish what we take. Non-violence is basically what it means, to get rid of violence like eliminating weapons of mass destruction and demilitarize everywhere. Decentralization is to eliminate a system which is controlled by and mostly benefits the powerful few, to a democratic, less bureaucratic system. Community based economics and economic justice is to create a system that’ll create jobs and pay people based on what they actually earn, also to enhance our quality of life. Feminism and gender equality is just to make everyone equal without any boundaries. Respect for diversity speaks for itself, to treat every race the same with no exception. Personal and global responsibilities are to help create a better world. Future focus and sustainability are thinking about what we are doing now and how it’ll affect our future, also to help create a way to make things last longer. They haven’t been successful in getting elected in to major offices but have made it in to smaller roles.


            One of the major voices in the green parties also happens to be their presidential nominee, Jill Stein. She is an American physician who tried for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 and in 2010. Ralph Nader is also considered an important person in the green party even though he technically isn’t a member. A democrat who also is a party member is Cynthia McKinney; she has served six terms in the House of Representatives. It’s hard to say whether or not their presidential nominee would hurt any other party because it takes a lot of signatures to even get on a ballot for third parties, but since people want other choices besides Romney and Obama then they could possibly choose Jill Stein. The Green Party’s major success they would point out is their presidential nominee, Jill Stein, for the 2012 election.

            The Libertarian Party’s issues are close to the green party but different at the same time. They believe that there should be a small government with a lot more freedom for the people, a free-market economy, civil liberties, personal freedom, foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade. An example is after reading their page on different issues they believe that we should be able to have guns and that we shouldn’t have them taken away because that’ll cause gangs in the U.S. to create a black market for guns leaving harmless citizens unable to defend themselves. One of the major voices in the party would be Gary Johnson, who also happens to be the party’s presidential nominee. Again since it is a smaller party it hasn’t had much success with larger elected roles. In total they have 154 libertarian officials holding offices all over the U.S. Two republicans that are also considered to be libertarians are Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul. Ron Paul was in the race for the republican presidential nomination but lost to Mitt Romney. There are more republican libertarians than democratic libertarians, but one democrat that is also a libertarian is the governor of Montana, Brian Schweiter. The libertarian presidential nominee, Gary Johnson, could have a huge impact on both the democrat and republican parties in the “swing” states because of Super PAC’s. Super PAC’s are a committee of people that can raise an unlimited amount of money to help with candidates or parties and in the swing states the libertarian party seems to have a couple of big super PAC’s. The libertarian party would say that their most major success would have to be their presidential nominee but also all the small roles that they have gotten in to offices across the U.S.
Works Cited
Beckel, Michael. "Third-Party Candidates May Hurt Romney in Key States: Super PACs Increase Potential Impact." The National Law Review. Center for Public Integrity, 31 Aug. 2012. Web. <http://www.natlawreview.com/article/third-party-candidates-may-hurt-romney-key-states-super-pacs-increase-potential-impa>.
"Gary Johnson 2012." Gary Johnson 2012. Libertarian Party, n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. <http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/front>.
"The Green Party of the United States." The Green Party of the United States. Green Party, n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. <http://www.gp.org/index.php>.
"The Greens/Green Party USA." The Greens. Green Party, n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. <http://www.greenparty.org/index.php>.
"Jill Stein for President." Jill Stein. Green Party, n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. <http://www.jillstein.org/>.
"Libertarian Party." Libertarian Party. Libertarian Party, n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. <http://www.lp.org/>.
"What Is Libertarian?" Institute for Humane Studies. George Mason University, n.d. Web. Sept. 2012. <http://www.theihs.org/what-libertarian>.

 

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