We all know the danger of a third party candidate. Third party candidates peel off voters from either the Democrat or Republican candidates and leads to defeat for one or the other.
So what to do? Many feel that Democrat leadership at the national level is out of touch with reality and beholden to the same corporate interests as the GOP. If you live in Michigan you probably think the same at the state level.
The allure of somehow launching a third party to represent the unmet needs of the working class and the jobless is strong. The final results will be disastrous.
So what can the disaffected masses who want our elective officials to put the working class first? The answer has been in our face since 2010. More on that after the jump.
We can't launch a third party but we can launch a movement that can take back the Democratic Party. We need to look no farther than the Tea Party and Grover Norquist.
By all rights the Tea Party should be a third party. But the strategic minds and money men behind the movement knew that taking over the GOP from within was the way to go. The Tea Party started with a disaffected segment of the GOP and turned it in to a force to be reckoned with.
Let's put aside the fact for a moment that the Tea Party has been co-opted by the anarchist Koch brothers and Mafia Don Murdoch and focus on their successful strategy.
1) Tea Party candidates must sign the Grover Norquist oath of loyalty to "No Taxes".
My imaginary movement called, The Main Street Coalition, would have candidates sign an oath of loyalty to a comprehensive set of initiatives that, short term, would get joblessness down to the 5% range and, long term, restructure our trade agreements to financially penalize corporations who service US citizens from using more than 40% foreign labor in the products and service that that they sell in the US.
Once the economy is stabilized then the Main Street Coalition initiatives focus in on:
A) Sealing off Social Security and Medicare from getting raided. B) Guaranteeing the financial viability of both programs for the next 70 years. C) Finance Reform D) Tax Reform (time to close up the loopholes and raise the capital gains tax for millionaires. E) Energy Independence as a national security matter (with differing short, mid, and long term strategic goals). F) Immigration reform (guest worker visas) AND beefed up border security at the same time. We need to realize that there is a legitimate need in agriculture for migrant workers. We need to make them guest workers. At the same time we need to seal up our borders.
2) Create a coalition between grass roots and business.
The Tea Party has it's kooky Scrooge Billionaires that have given them the financing to organize.
The Tea Party's "coalition", admittedly, is a bit weak and narrowly focused.The Main Street Coalition will have an overriding goal of restoring USA greatness in a way that benefits both Small and Mid Size Business AND Labor. The key word in the last sentence is AND. Both labor and Small through mid business must benefit - not one or the other.
3) Tea Party and Religion: while the Tea Party is forcing it's religious view point onto it's politicians, The Main Street Coalition will most pointedly not. Theoretically, one could have a Main Street Coalition Certified Democrat and a Main Street Certified Republican competing with each other in the same election. We let the party affiliation differentiate the cultural differences and let the Main Street Coalition Certification keep us confidant that the candidate is on board with sensible economic strategies.
4) Something the Tea Party politicians don't have: To be Main Street Certified, the politician must sign off on losing their entire net worth if they vote against (or don't vote) any Main Street legislation.
This entry is meant to be a conversation starter. Do you think this could be possible?