ThirdPartyProblems: If The GOP Fractures, Where Can We Turn?

The dust has settled and the last gasps of Congressional Democrats’ impeachment dreams are dying out in the summer swelter of the D.C. swamp. In the heady days of November 2016 many of us who initially did not support President Trump’s campaign dutifully boarded the “Trump Train” for the greater good of preventing a Hillary Clinton Presidency.

Constitutionalists, Libertarians, establishment Republicans and even moderate Democrats uneasily stood together in one of the loosest, most reluctant electoral coalitions ever seen in American politics. Yes, the #NeverTrump movement was indeed a thing, however, many pragmatists felt that the Johnson/Weld Libertarian ticket was dead on arrival and the unexpected independent Utahn momentum of Evan McMullin led to sound and fury signifying nothing.

In those days leading to November, I wrote a piece for TheBlaze.com stating inequivocally that I could not take the Libertarian Party seriously, I even earned myself a hat tip from Reason.com’s Matt Welch.

Was it a bit of a hit job? Yes, yes it was. And rightly so, I was quite upset. Having been thoroughly disenfranchised by the GOP establishment juggernaught that caused Senator Ted Cruz to suspend his campaign, I like so many of us lifted my eyes to the Libertarians in the vain hope that a truly conservative alternative like Austin Petersen could provide a viable candidacy, those hopes were dashed though in the nomination of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld in a convention that Welch described as:

“The freakshow atmosphere was exacerbated by the fact that the gathering took place right next door to MegaCon”

Looking back on the experience I think I can rightly give Matt Welch and Reason.com an apology on this one: I was wrong. I was wrong to look to the Libertarian Party only after my Republican hopes had failed. Like most people, I turned to the “Third Party Option” at the very last minute. A good friend of mine once posted a meme on Facebook to jab me that I’ll paraphrase here:

“Tell me again how we need a Third Party option six months before the election...”

 Starting today: we can fix that. Starting today, we begin the mini-series: #ThirdPartyProblems on The #HollowNet Podcast here on Lanterns.buzz. We’ll begin with an interview from The Federalist Party’s JD Rucker and in the coming week check out our Facebook page and twitter feed where you can help us decide what party we explore next. Our days of waiting until the last minute are over. If the GOP and the DNC can no longer withstand the forces tearing them apart than we must prepare for coalition style: small party politics. And I suggest we start the new conservative resistance right here, right now.
Also published on Lanterns.buzz.