Congressman Dean Phillips Attacks Anyone Who Runs for President Outside the Two Major Parties

Posted on by October 30, 2023

On October 30, Minnesota Congressmember Dean Phillips, who is running for president in the Democratic primaries, was interviewed by Michael Smerconish on CNN. He was asked whether he had thought about running as an independent. He said, “I say shame on anybody who might run as an independent candidate in this consequential race, the most important election in our country’s history, whether it’s Cornel West, whether it’s Robert Kennedy, whether it’s any other initiative that would have an alternate candidate that would peel votes from whomever would be taking on Donald Trump — shame on you. I would never do that.

“I’m doing this the way we have constructed our democracy.”

See this story. Perhaps Phillips has never read the Copenhagen Document of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, a document the United States, along with many other countries, signed in June 1990. We and the other nations pledged to “respect the right of individuals and groups to establish, in full freedom, their own political parties or other political organizations and provide such political parties and organizations with the necessary legal guarantees to enable them to compete with each other on a basis of equal treatment before the law.”

Phillips’ conception of “our democracy” seems to be that two particular parties will be given a monopoly on political activity.

Comments

Congressman Dean Phillips Attacks Anyone Who Runs for President Outside the Two Major Parties — 16 Comments

  1. Every Presidential election in which I have voted has been called “the most important election in our history” It’s all hype. I have voted for third party candidates, and the world hasn’t come to an end.

  3. Walter… you are absolutely correct. I have done likewise. As a matter of fact, only twice in my lifetime have I voted for a major party presidential ticket. AND… the sun DID rise today!

  5. If the two=party folks are worried about third parties messing up the election one way or another, there is a quick, easy remedy: approve run off elections for President in the swing states.

  6. NOOOO NEED FOR RUN-OFF ELECTIONS

    USE CONDORCET IN GENL ELECTIONS [WITH APPV TIE-BREAKER] = RCV DONE RIGHT

  7. Some folks think that alternative voting methods are some kind of conspiracy. IMO, RCV, would be better, but, just a simple run-off is very straight forward and easy for people to get. It’s used in a lot of places, inside and outside the US, so there is nothing mysterious about it.

  8. CURRENT ROTTED SYSTEM IS A VAST CONSPIRACY SINCE 1776 [INHERITED FROM BRIT ROT SINCE 1200S] —

    1. UNEQUAL BALLOT ACCESS LAWS

    2. MINORITY RULE PRIMARIES AND CAUCUSES AND CONVENTIONS

    3. MINORITY RULE ELECTIONS – ESP VIA MINORITY RULE GERRYMANDERS.

    T-O-T-A-L ELECTION SYSTEM ROT.
    —
    P-A-T

  9. Dean is stating a hard fact. The laws and media do favor the Democratic and Republican parties above all else. That is why groups like this are needed.

    The 1990 document is, alas, not legally binding. But I have lobbied for the applicable text to be a federal law or amendment.

  10. It doesn’t seem like there’s a contradiction between the statement you quote, “respect[ing] the right of individuals and groups to establish, in full freedom, their own political parties or other political organizations and provide such political parties and organizations with the necessary legal guarantees to enable them to compete with each other on a basis of equal treatment before the law” and saying “Shame on” third party candidates in a particular election. Phillips didn’t call for taking away anybody’s rights. Respecting a person’s right to do something and having disdain or contempt for their actions doesn’t have to be contradictory. But maybe if you are senile, you cannot understand that anymore.

  11. Read between the lines, Fully Vaccinated. Phillips is basically saying he doesn’t respect the right to run outside of the two ruling parties. That’s what he means by shaming third party and Indy candidates, and pointing out how he’s running within how our country’s so-called democracy has been “constructed”. For context, there’s already what amounts to de facto bans in some states with incredibly harsh petition signature amounts; for instance, New York and their 45,000 valid signatures required in just six weeks. Given the lack of massive protests against such an egregious violation of equal treatment/protection (in fact I’ve seen many people cheer on such attacks), politicians like Phillips could very well feel emboldened to introduce legislation to crack down even further against third party supporters and Independents.

  12. “I’m doing this the way we have constructed our democracy.”

    The duopoly has constructed structural barriers for other parties that ensure we perpetuate the duopoly. Got it, Dean.

  13. Walter Ziobro beat me to posting about, “the most important election in our history” hype. I laughed out loud at the quote in the article!!! Indeed, every presidential election I can recall is claimed to be of such “importance”.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.