Jill Stein, 2016 presidential candidate of the Green Party, having no chance of reversing her dismal loss, nevertheless asked for and was given a hearing for a recount in three states. That’s one wrong. Hillary Clinton, also losing in the same 2016 election, joined in the recount request after having conceding her loss to Donald Trump. That was wrong number two.
These two wrongs, however they play out, demonstrated the increased importance of a minority party today, thus making for a “right.”
How is that?
Electioneering is speech. Controlling the speech gives a political party tremendous advantage. In the early days of our republic, political speech was oratory, newsprint, signage, pamphleting and word of mouth. Even with the later introduction of radio and television, the reality has been that two major parties, Republican and Democrat, have controlled the political speech. For purposes here, we shall call them the political “establishment.” A political party is a group of like-minded voters assembled to effect a change in their favor in government. So the two major political parties by controlling media effectively restrict political speech from subdividing, in other words hindering new political groups from ever spinning off from the establishment parties. However that was soon to change in the 21st century.
The first notable changes to political speech were cablevision and “Talk Radio.” Almost without exception major television and radio stations were first owned and operated as affiliates of NBC, CBS, or ABC. And, again, almost without exception, television and radio was influenced by entities favoring the “establishment” parties. Then Congress opened up the broadcast bandwidth which permitted non-establishment controlled TV and radio entities to enter the market. For the first time, political speech went directly to the listener without filtration by the “establishment.” Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas took note of this change when he wrote to the effect that when he was defending himself against the allegations of Anita Hill to stop his confirmation he was thankful that his successful testimony went beyond the congressional hearing room and straight to the people. I believe his quote is, “Thank God for CNN.” I personally noted this new speech “window” to the people having watched the hearing in my hotel room while visiting in Rome, Italy. Amazing.
Next would come the Internet also free of “establishment” control. Political speech started getting subdivided easily into groups of like-minded voters who in most cases created their own websites to be the Internet home of the new homogenous group. Then to make speech easier, Facebook, Twitter, and other social Internet platforms were created. In sum, the “establishment” has lost control of speech today. For Justice Thomas it was, “Thank God for CNN,” today it’s “Thank God for the Internet.”
Because of the changes noted above, disenchanted voters of the establishment parties found it easy to associate themselves with like-minded voters in minority political parties that started to provide a new political home for them. The Conservative Party USA founded nine years ago was one. However an argument then developed by the “establishment” political parties that the minority parties should be disregarded because the minority parties could not successfully lure enough voters from the tentacles of the two major parties to give the establishment parties any grief. The minority parties’ retort is this is no longer a true conclusion. And for good or bad, Jill Stein representing the Green Party is presenting convincing evidence that it has given much grief to all participants of the election of 2016. Without a doubt, a minority political party can no longer be disregarded by the “establishment” parties, because doing so would be at their peril.
So today many minority political parties in addition to Conservative party USA are building in size to a national level; Green, Progressive, Reform, Libertarian, Constitution, Working Family, Veterans, Natural Law, Women’s equity, Americans Elect, Moderate, Independent American, Socialist, and many more.
If a minority party can now be easily founded, the final question then can be constructed, “What will accelerate minority party growth?” Answer is money.
Contributions have been difficult to come by with minority parties because of the voter’s previous perception that a minority party cannot “rock the boat.” But the good news is that Jill Stein and the Green Party debunked that perception. Fortunately Individuals have labored tirelessly to advance the fortunes of minority political parties. Because the variables of speech have changed, minority parties are here to stay and influence elections.
In conclusion, if the two establishment political parties no longer represent your principles, please consider the Conservative Party USA. Join us! Volunteer! And above all, I ask for your financial support.
Sam Gallo, Chairman Emeritus
Conservative Party USA
samgallo@cp-usa.org
http://conservativepartyusa.org
