Congress Attempts to Kill the "Third-Party Threat"

Proposed Legislation Creates Treasury-Funded Campaigns for the Two Major Parties, Leaving Third Parties with No Means to Run


(Washington, D.C.) On February 1, congressional Democrats, led by Rep. Obey of Wisconsin, introduced a bill, H.R. 4694, that would end viable, third-party competition in races for the U.S. House of Representatives.



The bill, ironically named the "Let the People Decide Clean Campaign Act," would mandate public funds (taken from the U.S. Treasury) to candidates for the House of Representatives and forbid candidates from taking private funds such as contributions from individual donors.



The ambiguously-written bill provides funds for candidates of the "two major parties" but essentially scuttles any campaign efforts of third-party or independent candidates.



For third-party candidates to be eligible for the same funds that Republicans and Democrats would receive, they would have to obtain enough signatures to exceed 20% of votes cast in the last election within their district.



The catch under the proposed legislation is that third-party or independent candidates cannot pay petitioners to collect any signatures, making it impossible to fund their campaigns.



H.R. 4694 is yet another attempt by our politicians in office to shut down Libertarian Party candidates and other competitive third-party and independent campaigns.



"The Republican and Democratic parties exist to maintain power for their own benefit. The Libertarian Party exists to grasp power for the benefit of the nation," stated Shane Cory, chief of staff for the Libertarian Party. "American voters are waking up to this reality, and as they do, the two parties are trying everything within their power to shut us down."

Barring the Bull Moose party (Teddy Roosevelt's political party) I can't think of a time when a third party has influenced the voting so seriously that it's threatened the two parties already in existence. This might help to further sour independents' dreams about running for president, but I don't see it quashing them completely.

The one thing this does threaten to change is the kinda "polar shift" that seems to go on every 150 or so years in the American political system, where the conservatives start becoming very progressive and the liberals become very restrained.

I wonder if we'll still see mass shifts in opinion (like we are now) in the parties if this bill comes into law.

What about Good Ole Ross "PIE CHART" Perot? Dude was basically a third party candidate and he made a bigger dent than the libertarians did all those other campaigns.

If What they say this bill will do is correct its got to be unconstitutional.

Ross Perot also had, in his own pocket, more money than the libs have raised, ever, in total. Plus he had that black op he funded to get his employees out of iran, people love shit like that.

Just proves money is the only necessary factor involved in competing in our relatively non-dynamic political system.

I agree with the Perot comments. Any candidate who can muster 19% of the popular vote is a definite threat. He may have gained more if he hadn't temporarily dropped out of the 1992 race and was actually the leading candidate in the polls for a time.

The Reform (one of them not that they have split) party gets federal funding doesn't it? I remember that was the big issue with the green party in 2k was getting 5% of the vote to secure federal funding.

good fuck the nigger.