Third Party Hit Piece

In this season of presidential campaign chaos the Buffalo News is getting a little brave by carrying a story on the Libertarian Party candidate – former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson – and how he could affect the Republican chances.

Basically the article was a hit piece on so called “third party” candidates.

The article went off on the 2000 election where many want to believe that Green Party candidate (and political opportunist) Ralph Nader cost the Democratic Party the presidency rather than focusing on the voter purges, the screwy ballot, and the “Bush Family” mafia that controlled the Florida governor's office and appointments thereof.

Note on Ralph Nader: He has done some excellent work on highlighting corporate abuse and corporate power and its effects on the working class and the environment. He needs to stick with that rather than running for office. At one time he accepted a run for office on a conservative capitalist party line that was way out of line with what I think he actually believes. He does some good work highlighting the abuses of capitalism. The solution to these abuses is socialism.

The impact of Johnson's influence would be in the southwest (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and possibly California. If he's lucky, Texas, though I doubt the Libertarian party's liberal social views and non-interventionist foreign policy would go over well in that state.)

The article also touches on Dr Jill Stein of the Green Party and how she and the Greens might impact the campaign for the White House.

Sad thing is that the article is a complete and total waste because it does not talk about the policies or ideas of either party at all or how they compare to the two main capitalist parties that are vying for the prize.

There's a reason for that: The corporate owned media doesn't want us to know or care about these parties because it would cost them more money to cover the parties and their candidates. Also the parties do not fit into the dominant world view that the corporate controllers want people to hear, see, and think about.

And Europeans just scratch their heads when they look at our politics.

So if the capitalist press isn't going to cover the Libertarian party – which is very pro-capitalist and wants even less regulation than the Republicans want – and won't cover the Green Party which promotes a semi-social democratic social and economic program and pretty much capitalism with an environmentally friendly face, I know that they are not going to cover a socialist party candidate at all.

Actually, if they were to cover a socialist party candidate it would be through a Cold War lens of Stalinism versus the capitalist west or some nightmare story out of Maoist China. Their coverage of Cuba is pretty horrific as well. So I know that they would not give any socialist candidate a fair shake.

This is why America needs media reform. This is why we need an independent press that reports to the citizenry the information and allows the citizen to decide. Robert McChesney and John Nichols write several books on media reform and some pretty interesting proposals on how to address it. Personally I believe that the media in a community should be owned by community members and run as not-for-profit organizations.

This is also why we need electoral reform. We have gerrymandered congressional districts that give the capitalist party in power the ability to maintain control and exclude other parties from even gaining a voice at the table.

We need to have proportional representation in the House of Representatives (at the federal level) and in the Assembly (or equivalent) at the state levels. If a party receives 5% or more of the vote, they receive that many representatives in the House or Assembly and have the responsibility of having offices available around the state in order to have their representatives accessible.

Parties in Europe also have the responsibility of helping register voters. Could you picture the Republicans helping an African American register to vote? Given that their party has -in recent history- worked overtime to deny African Americans their Constitutional right to vote? Democrats have a long history of suppressing the African American vote or swaying into candidates that talk a good talk and then do nothing.

I found the article interesting in as much as it did give a small amount of coverage to third parties. Now if the Buffalo News and other media would take the tine to actually cover third parties and their policies then maybe we could start seeing an electorate that is actually interested in politics.

And given the popularity of socialism among the 18-30 year olds and the increase in interest in socialism in 30-50 year olds, if they covered socialist parties, their candidates, and their policies, imagine what that would do for the declining readership that they are fighting tooth and nail to hang onto.

That being said, since the Buffalo News won't cover Socialist Action, go to the Socialist Action website and learn more about us, our policies, and our candidates for office – Jeff Mackler for President and Karen Schraufnagel for Vice President.

Check out our campaign site for information and updates to the campaign and like us on Facebook.

Last of all – joinus in our fight for democracy – real democracy for all – in America.

If you live in Western New York – send an e-mail. Let's get together & build a chapter here.

You have nothing to lose but your chains.