I’m thinking of running for office. I don’t know which party to choose. I’m a conservative, so that means I won’t run as a Democrat, but then, the Republicans are
such a disappointment, with that conservative platform and those socialist candidates. What do I do? Third party? Yeah, right! They’re pure, all right – and they’re losers.
First, remember the statement of Lord Acton, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” From this you may correctly adjudge that ALL parties, once in power, will tend to corruption. The platform does not inoculate them from this disease known as humanity. Any third party, no matter how pure, once it begins to win elections, will become, over time, corrupt. They can afford to be pure before they are elected.
Here are some considerations for each alternative. I’m working on the assumption that you call yourself a conservative (even though I’m not even sure myself what that is anymore).
Third Parties – pure as the driven snow, and less than 1% chance to win. But a third party race can be worth the effort is you don’t really want to serve, but you do want to knock off an incumbent. Especially if you are a “conservative” and the incumbent is a phony conservative (called a RINO, if a Republican, and called much worse, if a Democrat). That’s because you stand an opportunity to draw away from the incumbent 1-5% of the vote, which he may well need for his margin of victory. Study the history of the voting patterns of this seat, and see what the margins have been over the past 16 years.
If you live in a state where a third party has made inroads, getting over 25% of the vote in several races, and perhaps winning a seat here and there, then by all means, use their machine! They are hunting good, informed candidates, and you need the machine. Montana is a good example, with Constitution Party Rick Jore holding the lone seat in a legislature that is now divided between him and 49 Republicans and 49 Democrats! What a delectable situation!
Republican Party – working in the context of the GOP, a true conservative who believes in the platform is anathema to party leaders. Unless you have the support of county and statewide leaders, this is a formula for being defeated in the primary. Yes, you’ll see your name in newspaper articles, up until the primary, then you’ll sit on the side and grizzle for the rest of the campaign as the RINO’s use your slogans in November. This is probably the worst place of all for a dedicated Constitutionalist to try to run, as an amateur.
Someone like Ron Paul, who is a Libertarian at heart, can pull it off because he was no amateur coming in to his race as a Republican. He had two things you probably don’t – deep pockets and a well-oiled machine – a support group that would work for his election, no matter which party he decided to grace with his presence.
BALLOT ACCESS – this is easy. Pay your fees to the party, they do the rest. This is the draw for many amateurs – it’s easy to get on the primary ballot.
Your whole goal is to win the primary. Forget November, you won’t be there, if you lose in the primary. This decision means a short race for the big prize, which in your case, is the nomination from a party which hates your guts.
Democratic Party – It used to be, in one-party states, that the dominant party had two wings, one “liberal” and one “conservative”. In Texas, it used to be that the conservative Democrats were far more conservative than the Republican neo-cons of today. Don’t rule this out.
A conservative running in the Democratic Party will stand out like a light bulb in the dark (an excellent analogy). I know a white conservative Christian, very pro-life, who has been in office as a state representative (which shall go unnamed) for 16 years. He represents a depressed, black, welfare-state district. How? Simple. He went to the ministers of the district and asked them to put up a candidate who represented their strong family values, morality and sense of right and wrong. They said, “You run, we’ll endorse you.” He was very surprised, but finally agreed to run, and they elected him overwhelmingly.
BALLOT ACCESS – this is easy. Pay your fees to the party, they do the rest. This is the draw for many amateurs – it’s easy to get on the primary ballot.
Again, your whole goal is to win the primary. Forget November, you won’t be there, if you lose in the primary. This decision means a short race for the big prize, which in your case, is the nomination from a party which hates your guts.
Independent – for every barrier that an Independent Candidate has, there is at least one advantage.
BALLOT ACCESS – The first large barrier is actually achieving ballot access. In some races and some states, this is easy, in others it’s your biggest hurdle. But that is also your blessing in disguise. Let’s say that it takes either $5,000 cash, or 5,000 signatures on petitions to get you on the ballot as an Independent. There are fools out there who plunk down the money and think they are now a legitimate candidate. IF YOU HAVE $5,000, (and assuming you are not a really wealthy candidate), why give it to the State, when you need that money to buy campaign literature later in the race? That’s the first reason to NOT pay the fee. The second reason is that, in order to win in November against two well-oiled political machines, you NEED your own machine! Well, the State is giving you an opportunity to build that machine with the petition-gathering process. Without the machine, you are merely indulging your ego to run for office (unless you merely have the goal of knocking off an incumbent – not an unworthy goal). The higher the barrier, the more efficient machine you will need. While it might be possible for you to personally get 5,000 signatures, again, that would be folly. You must have ten dedicated volunteers who will go out and get 500, just to oversimplify the math. Those ten volunteers, who begin as a squad, suddenly become the officer corps of your platoon and what you hopes becomes a brigade of troops in your campaign. Get this through your head — you cannot win without a machine!!!!! This is the only thing a party offers you – a machine. And while that’s valuable, they will often work to undermine you, if not in this election, then certainly in the next primary
This machine you build in the ballot access period is your key to victory. Matter of fact, one could do worse than to take the filing fee, let’s say it is $5,000, and offer it in bonuses to the most efficient petition gathers. In my example, that would be $1 a name, and I think there are some people who have both the time and the motivation to go out and gather 250-300 names a day for you, if you’re paying a buck for a name on a piece of paper. That is a doable number. Think about it – if you can’t motivate ten people to work for you now, as a candidate, then you are not a viable candidate.
LONGER CAMPAIGN – The Independent is not knocked out of the race in the primary. In that primary, there may have been five candidates in each party, and you would have been lost in the shuffle, but now there is only one party champion advancing to the November ballot race. And you, the Independent, the new factor that changes their whole dynamic. Suddenly, you WILL start getting invited to the candidate forums (fora), and you start receiving coverage – especially if the press considers you as viable. That’s a whole `nuther discussion, “How to get the attention of the Press.”
It should be enough to know that your hard work to qualify as an Independent in the first place has now paid off, and you have another half year to campaign, with only two opponents. You are almost surely going to spell defeat for the more conservative of your two opponents. This means the socialist RINOS will blame you if the socialist Democrat wins. Your best reply is that the socialist Republican deserved to lose, and that you’ll do it again, if they don’t come up with some candidates who believe in the platform.
HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN POLITICAL MACHINE
Stand in front of a store, or anywhere lots of people are passing, and take your own poll. Ask people two questions:
- Which political party do you most closely identify with?
- Would you describe yourself more “liberal” or more “conservative”, in general?
I already know how that poll will turn out. Most people think they are “conservative”, whether they are or not. And most peoplethink they are “independent” in spite of the fact that there have rarely seen an independent candidate on the ballot. In politics, as with most things, “Perception is more important that reality.”
Now, let’s ratchet that poll-taking up one notch, and use it to build your very own political machine. To the “liberal Democrat”, say, “Thank you very much! But, to those who answered that they are either “independent” or “conservative”, ask the bonus questions:
- Have you actually ever met an “Independent Conservative” candidate? (Most will say they have not. Doesn’t matter what they say.)
- You say you’re an Independent and you’re Conservative. If an Independent Conservative candidate were to run for __________ (office), would you:
- Vote for him/her?
- Campaign for him/her?
- Put a sign in your yard?
- Help in a petition drive for him/her?
- Donate $10 to such a campaign?
- If that candidate were me, next November, and I were running for ___________, would you consider voting for me and maybe campaigning for me? (Most will say yes to “considering voting for you”, but will shy from campaigning. But you’ll get a volunteer or ten from one day of poll-taking).
- In that case, if I decide to run, would you mind if were to call you up and let you know? I don’t have a political party. All I have are “The People”. Like you. And I’m sick and tired of what the political parties have done to this country. (Hand them a response card, and let them fill out the contact information, “JUST IN CASE I RUN NEXT YEAR.”
This is not Rocket Science. It is grass-roots marketing. In other places on this website, you’ll find a lot more on that subject.
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