Abandon Ship?

Is it time to start a third party?

That question comes up on a regular basis.  For good reason, of course:  the GOP sucks, generally speaking.  That suckage notwithstanding, my gut reaction to this question is always:  no.  It is not time to start a third party.

Why?

I pondered that question on one of my runs, or dog walks, or school trips, or summat.  Can’t remember which.  Anyhow, in a typically annoying fashion, I shall answer the question with a question of my own:

Has the left made its progress through the ascendency of a third party?

No.

Sure, there are leftist “third parties” out there:  the Green Party, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, the Labor Party, the Socialist Labor Party, the Workers Party, to the Working Families Party, just to name a few from this Wikipedia list.

But.  Did these ”third parties” actually create the major leftist mile (mill) stones of today, from the Great Society to Obamacare?

No.  It’s all Dem, baby.

Far-left groups have influenced Democrat thinking, no question.  But did they do so by being an electorally viable party?

No.

In the same way, the Libertarian Party and the Tea Party do not need to be electorally viable in order to influence Republican thinking.

We do not need a third party.  We need to be working overtime to infiltrate and influence the GOP.  Just as the left did the Dems.  For us, the November 2010 election was only the beginning.  If the advance made so far is inadequate, that is our bad.  We should have been infiltrating and influencing well before Obama was elected.

Our bad.

Let’s just hope our bad hasn’t cost us the whole of our liberty.

I’m A Little Nosy Part 2

Ever since the Coffee Party burst onto the scene in March of ’10, I’ve been on their email list.  Now, we don’t hear much about them anymore.  Professor Jacobsen over at Legal Insurrection noted the movement’s decline back in August.

Yet, the Coffee Party is still chugging along in a sleepy fashion, which amuses me since it’s named after such a stimulating beverage.  I still get emails from them, thanks to signing a sheet passed around that fateful first local Coffee Party meeting at Starbucks. 

At first, local participants sent the emails, but that stopped quickly.  Now it’s the typical mass email from headquarters–you know, like the stuff you get from OFA or the RNC.

So I get a little nosy when a new name appears in the “from” box.  (Like the time I got nosy about the name Joshua Norris, listed as the coordinator of a local OFA event.  His Myspace page was . . . interesting.)

This time the new name in the Coffee Party “from” box was Bruce Schuman.  Google produced a few different Bruce Schumans, but I’m pretty sure this is the guy. 

Go ahead, click over.

He’s probably a really nice guy, but I’m not sure I follow his spiritual beliefs.

Oh and hey.  If you ever run out of Lunesta and need a sleep-aid immediately, click here.

UPDATE:  Yeah, I’ve definitely got the correct Bruce Schuman.  He’s written an article at the Coffee Party site about ”transpartisanship.”  You know, because bipartisanship is so ten minutes ago.  What is it with the constant rebranding of all things progressive?

He also started something called Shared Purpose.  Here is the list of groups participating so far.

And check out the info on this kinda mysterious website called Public Intelligence Blog:

Below the line is an email with several links that has been broadcast by and to what we think of as the “thinking man’s kum-ba-ya crowd.”  They have not gotten a grip on public intelligence in the public interest yet, they are still crawling around the edges of structured organization.  Think of them as raw material for GroupOn.  A mix of naivete, scary, and inspiring.  Please also note, as Tom Atlee has emphasized, that CITIZENSHIP makes “transpartisanship” a moot if not a counter-productive term.  The Coffee Party is seriously over-hyped in the material that follows, but the spirit of the note is authentic and merits respect.

Okey-dokey then.

A Whole Dollar

I got a dollar bill in the mail today, from Mr. Michael Steele himself.  The enclosed letter states that he trusts me to send this dollar back with a check to help our Party win.

You know, our Party.  I mean, our Party.  Oops. 

Guess what?  I’ll be sending that dollar plus a few more, alright, but not to you, Michael Steele.  I’ve got a few different places to consider . . .

Letter to RNC Chairman Steele

I’ll admit it.  I fell for the marketing. 

In my frustration over the health insurance reform bill passage, that image of Ms. Pelosi–clenched fists raised–with the dramatic backdrop of flames, sold me on the RNC product.  In March, I sent a small donation. 

So quick, so easy.  Click.  Enter paypal password.  Done.

Mere days later, news breaks about RNC’s lush travel expenses:  the Four Seasons, the Venetian, the Beverly Hills Hotel, private aircraft and limousines.  And for salt on the wound?  How about $2000 spent at Voyeur, a bondage-themed night club?

Ugh.

I vowed not to donate to party organizations ever again, and tried to put it behind me.  Then the donation requests started coming in the mail.

Threw the first one away, quick.  I don’t like being reminded of my own foolishness.  The second one arrived yesterday.  A pox on you, Chairman Michael Steele!

I’m embarrassed to post this confession of foolishness to all 10 of my readers (love you guys!).  But I found comfort in Michelle Malkin’s “Rejected RNC solicitation of the day.” 

So I printed a copy of the FOXnews article linked above.  And I wrote the following on the back:

Chairman Steele-

Take me off your mailing list.  I sincerely regret giving the RNC a thin dime of our hard-earned money.  The Republican party has let down this country, the Constitution, and all true conservatives ever since the end of Reagan’s presidency. 

We trusted you to limit the Dems overspending.  We trusted you to live and work with principle, integrity. 

You are worse than Nancy Pelosi, because you pretend to be on our side.  But really you are just maintaining your own power just like her.  At least she hasn’t betrayed her own party’s trust.

I’ll be mailing that in their included postage-paid envelope today.