In an opinion piece for Connecticut’s Norwich Bulletin, columnist Ray Hackett discusses the prospects for third party candidates in general and Green Party candidates in particular in the 2010 elections:
Is this the year when a third party can make significant inroads in Connecticut politics? Scott Deshefy, of Lebanon, thinks it is — especially if Ralph Nader throws his hat into the U.S. Senate race on the Green Party ticket. Deshefy announced last week that he will again run as the Green Party candidate in Connecticut’s 2nd Congressional District race . . .
So far, the 2010 campaigns have seen more candidates and more shifting than anything we’ve seen in a long time. It seems that every week someone is jumping into a race, or abandoning one race and jumping into another.
But the possibility of a Nader candidacy in the Senate race would certainly be another major shakeup in the political landscape. Nader says he’s considering it . . .
Deshefy believes if Nader does enter the race, that will result in the party also having a strong Green candidate in the governor’s race. According to Deshefy, a known and respected progressive Democrat has indicated a willingness to switch parties and run for governor as a Green candidate if Nader comes onboard — thus giving the third party one of the strongest slates of candidate for statewide office it’s ever had . . . considering the growing voter dissatisfaction with Democrats and Republicans, he said, alternatives to the two major parties might be far more attractive to voters next year then ever before.
“2010 just might be the best year for a third party,” he said last week.
21 responses so far ↓
1 Third Party Revolution // Dec 6, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I also have to agree that 2010 is going to be a good year.
2 Dont kid yourself // Dec 6, 2009 at 2:05 pm
If the green party becomes elected then we really would have not made a change except in name only, the greens are close to communism/liberals as well.
3 Don Lake .......... John Anderson volunteer 1980 // Dec 6, 2009 at 2:23 pm
….painting with a fairly broad brush are we ?????????
4 Robert Milnes // Dec 6, 2009 at 2:42 pm
don’t kid yourself, that is why we need about as many libertarians running as greens. Balance.
5 Roberto // Dec 6, 2009 at 4:32 pm
@2: Change in name? HAHAHAHAHA! I wish Dems put forth policies like those of the Greens. There’s a difference here, a BIG difference….
6 jason // Dec 6, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Wait, I thought 2008 was supposed to have been the “year of third parties.” Every election seems to be the “year of third parties,” until the election is over and it’s clear that third parties made no inroads.
7 Robert Milnes // Dec 6, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Unfortunately I do not think even Ralph Nader in homestate liberal CT can win as Green. Despite all his accomplishments, name recognition, experience etc. Interesting that a progressive democrat might be pursuaded to switch parties if he ran though. Now for a little story. I woke up today-with my usual boner, Trent-to see my 21 speed bike down the street across the street from my next door neighbor(small streets). This is where the teenager lives who I suspect stole my winter jacket & backpack. Both of which were trashpicked! That bike I saw in a dumpster near the Walmart which is about 3/4 mile away about 6 days ago.& I usually walk. I looked closer & saw it was a 21 speed but the rear (2 piece) frame was VERY bent as was the aluminum wheel. Tire looked ok though. Evidently it was run over & thrown away. I’m not familiar enough with 21 speeds to figure whether it was worth it to take it home & fix it. I’ve never unbolted a 2 piece frame. Anyway I decided to go ahead & hold up the back & roll the front. Not too bad. Tested the front brake. Good. Back brake siezed up. When I got home I didn’t have any place to put it. Except right up against wall near side door. So anybody looking at it would see a decent bike evidently left unlocked & unattended. Sure enough it must’ve been taken late last night because I was out there late & would’ve noticed it missing. Somebody must’ve taken it, realized it was bent up & quickly dumped it. Ha! Ha! I wonder who!
8 jason // Dec 6, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Oh yeah, “Don’t kid yourself,” I’m a commie, and we hate liberals as much as we hate conservatives. I wish you conservatives and libertarians would stop saying we’re the same thing.
9 Third Party Revolution // Dec 6, 2009 at 4:55 pm
So why is it that the communists oppose the liberals?
10 Knowledge is Power // Dec 6, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Third Party Revolution,
“So why is it that the communists oppose the liberals?”
Sounds like you need to put down the keyboard and pick up a poly sci 101 book
11 The Last Conservative // Dec 6, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Conservatives, liberals, libertarians and communists are all part of the same anti-monarchist conspiracy, which has damaged law and order in the world for at least the past 300 years. But the great awakening is coming.
Robert, sorry about your bike. But it was probably Ralph Nader’s fault. He will never adopt the PLAS, despite its massive success in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
12 joell // Dec 6, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I suspect if Nader decides to run, it will be as an independent. He knows the GP, is a subsidiary of the democratic party.
A sure way to neuter an emerging movement is to involve the greens. The GP represents the vile crotch of third party politics.
13 Richard Winger // Dec 6, 2009 at 10:26 pm
There are almost as many monarchs in the Arabian world as in all the remainder of the world (except they call them sheiks, not kings). So that doesn’t say much for monarchy.
14 Don Lake .......... John Anderson volunteer 1980 // Dec 6, 2009 at 10:50 pm
jason // Dec 6, 2009: “I thought 2008 was supposed to have been the “year of third parties.” Every election seems to be the “year of third parties,” until the election is over and it’s clear that third parties made no inroads.”
——- I personally have been quietly [alright, not so quietly] crying since the last election cycle. The American Loyal Opposition is HQ’d on a barge in DENIAL!
15 Platform // Dec 6, 2009 at 11:29 pm
The greens platform comes close to communism, end of story.
16 Roberto // Dec 6, 2009 at 11:55 pm
end of story? great argument! hehe
17 jason // Dec 7, 2009 at 10:17 am
Comes close to communism? Where is the worker’s ownership of the means of production? Where is the abolition of private property? No, the Greens don’t even come CLOSE to communism. They’re just another bourgeois liberal party, intent on keeping the working class as the lowest class and making the middle class the new ruling class.
18 Lou Novak // Dec 7, 2009 at 1:47 pm
You know you’re in the political mainstream when the righties call you communist and the lefties call you bourgeois liberals.
http://www.gp.org/platform.shtml
19 paulie // Dec 7, 2009 at 9:07 pm
An alternative approach to the Ten Key Values of the Greens which is also consistent with the libertarian/free market anarchist non-initiation of force principle:
http://aaeblog.com/?s=greensleeves
20 VAGreen // Dec 7, 2009 at 11:59 pm
“I suspect if Nader decides to run, it will be as an independent. He knows the GP, is a subsidiary of the democratic party.”
I guess that some on the sectarian left have decided to hate us for the rest of their lives because we didn’t back Nader in 2004. After all my years of involvement with the Green Party, I have yet to see any of the money that I would get from being a Democratic Party operative. I’ve also yet to see the money that liberal Democrats accuse Greens of taking from the Republicans.
In 2007, I led a candidate recruitment drive that got three Greens elected in my home state. More recently, the Arlington County Democratic Party felt so threatened by my local party’s challenge to them on affordable housing issues that they actually ran crying to the state legislature to make referendum petitioning requirements more difficult. How’s your party doing, joell?
21 joell // Dec 9, 2009 at 11:50 pm
@VAGreen “How’s your party doing, joell?”
i’m a political orphan searching for a real political party to join.
as for the GP, its irrelevant and unworthy of discussion. i only mentioned it because apparently the Connecticut GP want s Nader to run as a green.
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