COMMENTARY | As Republicans struggle to find a clear leader to oppose President Obama in the 2012 election, there is growing momentum from the voting public for a third-party candidate on the ballot as well. For many voters, the crisis of today’s economic woes and high unemployment rates are directly the result of decades of partisan politics. These voters want real change, not a campaign slogan, and they are increasingly calling for a third-party candidate for President of the United States of America.
Soon after its inception, the Tea Party made an immediate impact to the political process through altering the Republican Party tickets across the country. While the Tea Party followers more closely identify with the GOP than the DNC, the true spirit of the grassroots movement is independent of party politics. While the Tea Party has yet to transform itself into a true third party, the call to action is being made for Ron Paul to be on the November ballot one way or the other.
Posing the question, “If we started from a blank slate, how would America nominate a president today?”, Americans Elect is an independently funded website aiming to transform our election process by use of today’s readily available technology. Allowing each visitor to rank which issues are most important to them, this site aims to put a candidate on the ballot in all 50 states for the 2012 election. This non-partisan experiment has already collected nearly 2 million signatures in its effort.
As the GOP can attest by the divide of it base at the hands of the Tea Party, the creation of third-party contenders can often have unintended consequences. As conservatives push for their favorites over the staunch party candidates, the voting base of the Republican Party has been fragmented, leaving candidates exposed to a more united DNC base. While the Tea Party fight with their close political cousins, the Democrats sit on the sidelines watching GOP contenders rip each other to shreds.
With political rhetoric at an all-time high and an economy on the brink of disaster, the 2012 election could very well be the year of the independent. Having complete disdain for the current two-party system, many voters have completely disenfranchised themselves out of frustration. In 2008, 38.4 percent of registered voters chose not to cast a vote at all. A third-party candidate could find fertile ground by appealing to the citizens who feel betrayed by the Democrats and Republicans alike. With a nation so divided along party lines, perhaps the only chance to break the gridlock is the election of a non-partisan facilitator.