Former Republicans and Democrats Form New Third U.S. Political Party
28th July 2022
Dozens of former Republican and Democratic officials announced on Wednesday a new national political third party to appeal to millions of voters they say are dismayed with what they see as America’s dysfunctional two-party system.
The new party, called Forward and whose creation was first reported by Reuters, will initially be co-chaired by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Christine Todd Whitman, the former Republican governor of New Jersey. They hope the party will become a viable alternative to the Republican and Democratic parties that dominate U.S. politics, founding members told Reuters.
This could prove entertaining. I’ve always liked Andrew Yang, and I’ve always disliked Whitman, so I will be paying attention as to how this discomfort with the current UniParty translates into policy. Typically such ‘third parties’ are started by people who aren’t getting what they believe to be Their Fair Share of the political pie, so they have short life-spans; Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party, Ross Perot’s Independence Party, and the Dixiecrat party in the late 1940s being the poster children here.
Historically these only survive because one of the two national parties has disintegrated, and the Federalists and Whigs did before the Civil War. Despite gleeful cacklings on the part of activists, I don’t see that happening these days, although the Democrats are skating close to the edge with their embrace of Woke ideology that only a proglodyte could love. But we’ll see.