The Problem with Third Parties

Could Bloomberg be a Spoiler? -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
The whole idea behind political parties is that there is power in numbers. A band of people with similar (but by no means identical) sentiments builds a coalition based on a few common viewpoints. It would be unwieldy and unworkable to have a party to represent every distinct outlook. It would very nearly amount to the dissolution of the social contract -- cavemen had such a system. In the caveman days, official acts were finalized by clubbing someone in the head.

Now in a civilized world, we have party politics. Does a given party represent every aspect of you or me? Well no, not at all. We pick a team based on the overall temperament of a party. When I hear of a Ross Perot running for the 'Reform' Party or Ralph Nader running for the Green Party, a couple of words come to mind: spoiler and egomaniac. In such cases, the candidate would perform a far greater service stating his case in a convention, representing a wing of an established party. It is no surprise that such people are full of hubris and selfishness -- they are basically living out a fantasy. They hope that an out-of-control groundswell of grass roots passion will sweep them into office. Rather than working a one-man revolution, these men basically get their political, egomaniacal 'rocks off' at the expense of the nearest mainstream party.

Now there is talk of New York's Michael Bloomberg running as an independent. He was most recently a Republican (since 2001) but not very convincingly. He disavowed that party last week in a press conference. It's a coin flip to say which party his candidacy would hurt the most. Voters should use a probability approach to figure a voting strategy. If a candidate realistically has no chance of being elected, your vote for him will be wasted in a constructive sense. It will be damaging to the candidate in the closest party -- that will be the greatest effect of all.

Perot elected Clinton in '92 and Nader gave us Bush in '00. The people voting for 3rd Party pipe dreams can never drink away the guilt of what they did to their respective parties -- it's too monumental. When you see a man going on a third party ego trip, let him finish that ride by himself. The consequences are very real after all. Is any candidate a perfect reflection of you? Absolutely not. Is there a likely-to-be-elected candidate that you'd rather have in office? Absolutely. And the laws of probability will never give third parties credible results. Third parties just create personality cults for election-stealing, pompous fools.

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