Here Come the Spoilers

07/24/2007

Paul Munnis


It appears that another attempt to create an Independent Party is happening again and the program is called “Unityo8.” Of course it is just the opposite of unity. It’s an attempt to harvest seeds of disaffection among GOP and Democratic Party members, to siphon votes away from the two Parties, and to form an Independent Party out of the remnant. An Independent Party does not exist and the effort has nothing to offer except more political division for America.

We Americans have been there. In Minnesota we can recall the days when we sent to St. Paul an angry guy called Jesse Ventura as our governor who was going to put a pox on both the GOP and Democrats house. He wanted unicameral government and he wanted to refund every unspent dollar in Minnesota as refund to citizens. He paved the way for the “No New Taxes,” crowd who have left us in a state of decline that we are still trying to recover from. That opened the gates for the “Great Divider” himself with Karl Rove as his henchman.

There was Ross Perot who had fun trying to form a third party unit.

Every national election Ralph Nader comes out of the woodwork and pulls the same stunt.

All seek to siphon votes away from the Democratic and GOP Party. All are political disruptors when what we need as a nation is people to pull America back together again.

These groups play to the politics of hate and division.

So we ask: “what does Unityo8 have to offer?”

They have no Party, they have no candidate, they have no seats in Congress, they have no platform, they have no political history, they have no national spokes-people and they have no following. They have nothing but disaffection and instead of working in the ranks to influence a Party they seek to withdraw and splinter and create chaos. There is no way they can build this Independent Party in time for the 2008 election and so they clearly have spoiling as their real agenda.

What they do have is determination to disrupt the 2008 Election just as they have been doing for decades. Every national election somebody comes out and wants to start a third party and this election it’s no different.

Independents are after the Greens, plus disaffected Democrats and unhappy Republicans. They will find them too but it won’t make a third Party and it won’t galvanize America and it won’t unify our nation and it won’t get us out of Iraq nor will it change the way that Congress operates. It will splinter American voters and it will cause more division among Americans. It will help the GOP get back into office.

Democrats and Greens have joined hands to get needed environmental reform and are doing mighty well together thank you. Most Greens have come to understand that it’s better to join up with a powerful Democratic Party and to influence its planks, direction, candidates, and agenda. That way you get both environmental laws and needed policy change.

Americans are better off giving Democrats the votes they need to get America back on track. Once we unseat Bush the rest is a known platform of where we are going and it includes plenty of reform. Enough to keep independent minded people busy working for the common good if they want to.

Spoilers are not part of the solution – they are part of the political problem in America --for my part I reject them.

Support the Democratic Party and don’t cave-in to these voices of disunity.