Steve Baldwin, who appears to be insane, has brainstormed a way for the far right to create a third party to supplant the Republican Party without helping Democrats win elections in the interim. His idea is that the party would be built online, gaining members, supporters, donors, and potential candidates, but that it would remain virtual and inactive in elections until a certain threshold of support was met. When they reached, say, 20 million supporters, they would launch a slate of candidates.
It’s not a terrible idea as long as they realize that they’d still be trying not to win but to supplant the GOP as the second of the two big national parties. Whenever they launched, and however strong they managed to be in their inaugural election season, they would initially help the Democrats win elections. If they were strong enough, however, they could replace the Republicans as the dominant party on the right. Maybe by the second election season, they could emerge as the first choice of the right and perhaps the GOP would simply go away.
I still think a better way to go is to have candidates declare themselves as “constitutional Republicans” or “progressive Democrats.” The candidates would commit to voting for one of their own on the first ballot for Speaker of the House. Over time, pledged elected officials could become a majority within the respective caucuses, and gain control over the leadership.
I have to run an errand or I would flesh this out. I can do so in the comments.
