Harry Markopolos is a Boston man who had been trying for almost ten years to alert the Securities & Exchange Commission to investigate Bernie Madoff’s financial dealings. Michael Richardson, a member of the COFOE (Coalition for Free & Open Elections) Board, was priviledged recently to conduct an extensive interview with Markopolos. The segments are on the Boston Progressive Examiner. This segment, published April 6, reveals that Markopolos believes the United States would be better off with a new broad-based political party.
I wonder how his new party will be like, or he can find an already existing party to belong to.
There are too many people who call for the creation of a new political party and not enough who actually do something about it. The left needs to unite its forces; the right needs to change and become part of the left. “The center can not hold,” as W.B. Yeats wrote.
How about the “Natural Born Citizen” Party?
Moderate Party ???
Progressive Party ????
Bull Moose Party ???
Speaking of names, I am constantly surprised that here in the centennial of the most successful alternative party effort of the 20th Century, the 1912 Teddy Roosevelt and California Governor Hiram Johnson and the displacement of a sitting President.
Conservation/ Greens have TR’s Parks and Preserves. Reform, well, anti establishment. Progressives have a Nader like consumer protection, like Bill Taft’s Clean Food and Drug efforts. The Bull Moose is well known from seventh grade civics class and the Theodore Bear plush toys and tee shirts are a natural fund raiser.
—- Don Lake, California
What we really need, Don, is a coalition effort that would bring most, if not all, of the various left and progressive parties into a stronger, united, front.
Enough fake left/right paleolithic politics. We need a populist party (called what you like in different states, whether Progressive in Vermont or Independence in Maryland or Independent in Minnesota or probably Populist in California) to vigorously defend our ENTIRE bill of rights…
…This means freedom of/from religion, free speech, the usual ACLU/CCR positions, BOTH/AND defense of 2nd amendment rights, decentralizing enforcement and devolving power to the state and local governments under the 9th and 10th.
Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, Ralph Nader and Jesse Ventura have an essentially compatible, if not identical foreign policy and a confluence of these forces is possible on common ground issues — while ditching the wedge issues entirely from the platform.
Thing is, none of the present nationally organized political parties are capable of representing this, mostly due to the imposition of micro-managing and strictly ideological platforms which bend towards extremism (especially the theocratic Constitution Party and anarcho-cap pro-war Libertarian Party). The Green Party has similarly moved in an extremist direction on the POCLAD cult issue of destroying all corporations, distinguishing them little from the various socialist/communist factions (Socialist, Socialist Workers, Communist, Socialism & Revolution, Peace and Freedom) spinning their wheels for decades.
I once thought the Greens the most capable vehicle for a third party of national significance to emerge, but with their own set of hostile control freaks frustrating the will of their own primary election voters in two consecutive presidential elections, these hopes have been dashed.
Any new party will have to establish at the outset the two most fundamental principles: One person, one vote (none of this fake consensus groupthink) and complete, total resistance to the two party scam, no exceptions, all offices get contested.