submitted by George Dienhart
There has been much talk about Randy Stufflebeam and third parties lately. Illinois had an abundance of electoral choices this year. The Constitution Party was seen as the conservative alternative choice. The liberals had the Greens, and the (anything but) Moderate party. Throw in General Borling’s independent candidacy in this category as well. Voters on the right are discouraged, and in many cases, disgusted. With their pending ballot access, third parties did made gains this election cycle that may have voters thinking that the time is right to consider a third party candidate next time.
There were certainly choices to be made, but I can offer a huge reason not to vote for a third party. Upon analysis, you will see that a third party candidate cost the Republican Party control of the senate, even though their candidate did not even come close to winning.
The Republicans barely lost Montana, by a margin of around 3,000. A libertarian candidate named Stan Jones garnered over 10,000 votes. He had no chance to win, but did affect the outcome of the race. You may say, “But George, he showed that 10,000 people believe in smaller government and lower taxes” So do most Republicans. The 10,000 votes? Cast out of more than 404,000. He was less than an also ran, overwhelmingly rejected by the people of his own state. His 10,000 delusional hangers on did nothing but cede control of the senate to liberal democrats.
This would normally be irony of the highest order, seeing that Mr. Jones was staunchly pro gun and anti tax. The only thing that keeps me from laughing is serious damage that will be done to the county, and potentially the court system, by the liberals now running the Senate. Mr. Jones has run for governor twice. This was his second crack at the senate, as well. He is now a 4 time loser that has destroyed any chance of getting a pro life judicial candidate on the Supreme Court.
You see, Chuck Shumer was recently quoted in the New York Observer as saying “Judges are the most important; one more justice would have made it a 5-4 conservative, hard-right majority for a long time. That won’t happen.” The Democrats are now in a position to block Supreme Court nominees. Had the 4 time loser, Libertarian candidate not run, Conrad Burns most likely would have held his seat. Whether you like or hate Burns, the smart thing to vote for was a Republican control of the Senate.
In Illinois, we are going to have a lot of choices in the 2008 Senate election. We’ll probably see another Constitution Party Candidate, another (anything but) Moderate Party candidate, a Green and God only knows what Gen. Borling will do. The problem is in the possibility that the Constitution Party will split off enough votes to sabotage the Republican vote. Before jumping on the third party bandwagon, ask yourself if feeding Randy Stufflebeam’s ego really worth 6 more years of Dick Durbin.
The conservative answer lies within the GOP, not a third party. We must promote and support good Conservative Republicans, or risk being derailed by 2% of the voting populace. I wonder how many of Stan Jones’ supporters feel good about the vote they cast, now that they have seen the results.
