Many people are dissatisfied with the Republicans and Democrats, but what can we do about it?

Originally posted 10/19/2004 on bibleforums.org:

I’d like to get some opinions on viable ways to get better candidates elected.

I know a lot of Christians are disappointed with President Bush, and would like to see someone more like Michael Peroutka get elected president. However, Peroutka doesn’t even show up on the polls, so there is no way he will be elected. Anyone who does vote for him is usually taking away a vote from Bush, meaning Kerry is more likely to get elected, and most of us certainly don’t want that.

Is it reasonable to think someone with little or no political experience, who has never held an elected office…

a) has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected?
b) is likely to be effective even if they did get elected?

I was watching the Indiana gubernatorial debate the other day, and I liked the Libertarian candidate’s idea of eliminating property tax and slashing educational costs by 50% or more by getting government out of education and converting every public school into a charter school. However, even if he managed to get elected, the legislature made up of Republicans and Democrats would never in a thousand years be willing to do that.

The Constitution Party has the same problem. They have 100 or so candidates running for offices across the country, but no incumbents from what I could tell. If they can’t even get a candidate elected to local or state government, how can they expect their presidential candidate to stand a chance? And even if he somehow was elected, with no Constitution Party support in the House or Senate, what could he really accomplish? Everything he would attempt to do would be blocked. If Peroutka is their top candidate, why “waste” him on the presidential race? Why doesn’t he run for something he has a better chance of winning, so the Constitution Party can get their foot in the door?

Please read this article and share your thoughts:
http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=9370

Quotes from article by Gene Edward Veith:

A constant refrain among “Third Party” members is their frustration at the idea of picking what they consider the lesser of two evils among the major parties. Greens on the left and Constitutionalists on the right insist on voting for what—and who—they believe in, even if that person doesn’t have a chance in the world to win, and even though their vote will help the side that they most oppose.

…

…a purist vote for a third-party candidate does not advance one’s cause, but rather advances the polar opposite of that cause. A vote for the Green candidate really will help keep George W. Bush in office, and a vote for the Constitution Party candidate really will help elect John Kerry and potentially enshrine pro-abortionists in the courts for decades to come.

…

Third parties can be built, though, not by nominating presidential candidates who are sure to lose but by starting from the ground up, by electing candidates to local and state offices, who might eventually develop the expertise and the reputation to win election to higher office.

…

…a grassroots movement must grow from the grassroots.