This is not the diary I set out to write. Somewhere about the middle, as I was invested in a detailed analysis of just how we could change the world, I realized that I am completely full of shit.
I’ve read over what everyone has been writing, in response to my ranting call for a third-party. In response to the myriad announcements of changed registration from Democrat to Independent. In response to the rallying cries from the loyal, to save the Democratic Party from iteslf.
As I was researching the platform for a new party, it was very clear to me, that BooMan’s analogy of the O.J. Simpson trial, at least at this time, is right. The evidence is in. And third-parties just don’t seem to work. No matter how much people like me whine that they should.
I make this statement with the same fervor that I made yesterday’s rant that the Dems were DOA. It just seems to be a fact of life to me, as I read more, spurred on by the comments from some of our most interesting minds here at the BooMan tribune.
I look at the mission statements that were linked for The Green Party, the Independent Progressive Politics Network and the Peace and Freedom Party Platform, and I see wonderful statements. Sentiments I share. And they have many things in common, these sentiments: They were all crafted by someone far more skilled than I, and none of them have been implemented as policy, and none of these parties has had any significant success on a large scale in American politics.
There is no sense in me trying to re-invent the wheel. If I want to be a Green, I can go get my card tomorrow. I agree with most of their principles. But I inherently understand that to do so would likely condemn my future actions to relative obscurity. Not unlike what my actions are now.
I don’t say this to discourage any of my better organized fellows. I may well be following you. But I just don’t see me leading a bus anywhere but over a cliff. I’m just as likely to start the official Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in downtown Lansing as I am to start a successful third party.
And so, I must tell myself to STFU. I deserve that much. No more diaries for a week. Self punishment.
