Independent candidates are poised to run serious campaigns for governor in at least a half-dozen states, a development that threatens
Democratic fortunes in some of the bluest and most progressive-minded states in the nation.
In New Jersey, where Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine is seeking a second term in November, polls suggest an independent candidate is carving a sizable
portion of voters out of his hide.
Read more:
A decleration of independents in 2010
I thought this was an interesting article that perhaps may be showing the rise of the third party and the twilight of our two party system.
People are becoming more educated with the political process and the affect of government on their lives, and nearly everybody is dissatisfied with
the two major parties. For the first time in most of our lifetimes, third party candidates actually have real chances to take power from the
establishment.
At first, I was a little surprised to see that the majority of the independent candidates are coming from progressive and solidly blue states. But
thinking about it a little bit, it does make sense.
According to the article, most of these third party candidates represent center-left voters who are unwilling to vote for a Republican. It makes
sense, seeing as how most moderate Republicans have left the party to its ideological, immovable, and fundamentalist base.
It's my opinion that we may be seeing the budding of a new system. The country is definitely (albeit very slowly) drifting left. In the
not-so-distant future, I believe we'll have a system dominated by the Democrats and checked by coalitions of smaller parties representing center-left
and far-left constituents, with the Democrats placed somewhere inbetween.
Where does that leave the Republican party? The Republicans will still hold the slowly fading rural areas and the deep South, but they'll be confined
there as a regional party as they fade into obscurity and leftward thinking slowly dominates the political process.
The facts don't lie - and the facts are that minority groups (which will be the majority sometime mid century) vastly favor Democrats and left-wing
groups. "Traditional" American thinking is being uprooted and reshaped for the new generation and a new millenia. Rural districts - Republican
strongholds - are all in decline. The Evangelical Republican base refuses to cooperate on issues that alienate the center.
All these ingredients combine to make a perfect storm for the emergence of third parties. Looking on to later than just mid-century, it might actually
be the time when the two parties dominance completely ended. Who knows?
Regardless of whether you fall left or right, I hope this article gives us hope and courage, and that every one that reads this thread goes out and
votes a third party candidate in 2010.
