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Sisyphus' Boulder - The Uphill Battle of Third Party Solutions (Exclusive)

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ABX:
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king who came under the wrath of Zeus for cruelty and deception of his people. Zeus punished him by requiring him to be chained to a boulder in which he had to push up a hill. Every time he reached near the top of the hill, the weight  of the boulder became too great and rolled back, requiring Sisyphus to start over, every day, for all eternity.

Conservatives election after election, feel like they are rolling the boulder uphill but never reaching the top, only to start at the bottom again every few years. Except, in this epic, Conservatives are bearing the Sisyphus' punishment for Republican deception. Every time this boulder rolls back, more Conservatives peel off of this task, no longer willing to bear the punishment the Republican Party has wrought on them- yet they end up still, at the bottom of the hill. Over and over, the same debate rages, should they throw off the burden of the Republican Party and start the trek uphill on their own or should they reject those who brought the punishment upon them and take back the Republican party, following Sisyphus' path but without his punishment?  Third party or take back the Republican party, the debate once again rages. The question isn't why it is happening or if it needs to happen, but how.

The reasons against creating a new third-party.

Ask any member of the Libertarian Party, Green Party, American Independent Party, or any of the other thousand or so third, fourth, or fifth tier parties about the struggle for national prominence and they will all claim the same thing- the two party system has a strangle-hold on elections in this country.  While I do acknowledge the difficult challenge these parties face and that there are many roadblocks, I have found that the structural roadblocks that truly stop any of these parties come down to two factors:

1. Human nature- people work best when given two options and naturally two main options always rise. Coke versus Pepsi. McDonald's versus Burger King. West coast versus East coast rap. Apple versus Windows.  Almost every choice you can think of in the commercial world comes down to two major choices with many minor choices that rarely break into those top tiers. It is simply how the mind works best. If we had 100 political parties all on equal footing, within a decade, two parties would rise as the two primary options. It happens in almost every political system around the world.

2. Political Party Inc. Political parties are not just about the movement behind the party, they are a big business- one to rival any Fortune 25 company both in structure and financials. To successfully operate a political party, you can't just have a good belief system. You need:
o   Lawyers specializing in election laws- especially state by state ballot access.
o   Lawyers specializing in campaign finance laws, both on the national level as well as on the State level.
o   Teams and teams of marketing professionals representing all aspects of the advertising world, from television, to radio, to print, to grassroots. Each one is a specialty in itself.
o   Lawyers to manage the marketing professionals to ensure they follow every FEC regulation regarding the advertising they produce.
o   'Franchises' in every single voting district in the country. In other words, local parties that ensure your brand is properly represented and sold in each district.
o   Fund-raising firms and call centers. (and lawyers to manage those).
o   'Employees' in every district. In other words, local candidates. All politics are local and people will be most likely to vote a national candidate if they are also following a local candidate of the same national party. Party-line voting represents a vast majority of ballots cast.
o   MONEY!!!  All of this costs massive amounts of money. In the presidential election alone, during the last election over $300 Million was spent by each candidate with the next election projected to cost a half billion to a billion dollars for each national candidate. This does not even include every single local candidate.

This only scratches the surface in what is involved in creating a new third party that can actually compete on the national level. It is why to many fighting to retake the Republican party by Conservative citizens seems to be the most efficient path to the top of that hill.  Creating a new third party that could achieve all of this before much more damage is done to this country would be creating a new Microsoft in your garage in a few years.

Is there really a chance to create a third-party?

It seems like an impossible task, just like creating a Microsoft in your garage- but it happens. It is just a matter of being in the right place, at the right time, with the right 'product'.  Some could argue that we are in the right place, at the right time, and with the right product.  The RNC has become tainted with establishment politicians who work for the system first and don't even try to give lip service to the voters any longer. Congressman Peter King (R) said today: "..we just can’t have national Republicans criticizing the system” in response to Congressman Ted Cruz having the audacity to fight for the people who elected him instead of a political party or establishment system.  Our government has moved away from being a Republic representing the people, or even pretending to represent them. They now openly mock the people and place themselves on pedestals of power with protective walls they create for themselves.

Many in the Republican Party or in the new media are seeing this and are quickly abandoning the thought of being able to re-take the Republican party.  The old kings and lords won't abdicate their throne and they are attacking anyone in the kingdom who challenges their rule.
This attitude and corruption has turned the stomach of many political professionals. This is creating what many is seeing as a right place/right time situation.  A large portion of the 'business' side of the Republican Party is joining the chorus of citizens who have had enough of the establishment. A new political party may no longer be an unorganized fringe but has the potential to bleed off much of the business talent of the Republican Party as well. If the right people in the business side of the party join in the movement as well as charismatic new-media leaders, there could potentially be an avalanche effect, ever growing both in intensity and speed. As the avalanche grows, it will pick up more and more of those business aspects of the Republican party that have evaded other third parties in the past.

Of course, this has the greatest risk- to create a self-defeating schism in the Right that the Left capitalizes on to entrench their power for decades.  It is going to take the Right, in a mass movement, unifying against the establishment, to ensure either change works.

What do we do with Sisyphus' boulder? 

Rapunzel:
Excellent analysis, AB

ABX:
I hope this can start a discussion, not just on the option that could be best, but more importantly, on the how- especially the how in regards to what we as the grassroots can do.

Rapunzel:

--- Quote from: AbaraXas on October 16, 2013, 04:40:31 am ---I hope this can start a discussion, not just on the option that could be best, but more importantly, on the how- especially the how in regards to what we as the grassroots can do.

--- End quote ---

We stop this "hands off" thing and start voting Republicans who have been in office too long out in the primaries. We replace from within the party and then clean out the people at the RNC.

Liberal_Spy:

--- Quote from: Rapunzel on October 16, 2013, 04:42:20 am ---We stop this "hands off" thing and start voting Republicans who have been in office too long out in the primaries. We replace from within the party and then clean out the people at the RNC.

--- End quote ---

The new ones will be corrupted by money, same as the old ones. Same goes for the left.

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