We’re experiencing a spike in new books about the issues we raise at Free & Equal– unfair ballot access laws for small parties and Independents, and the duopoly’s grip on American politics.
This spike points to an increasing number of Americans feeling disenfranchised by our political system.
The civil rights crises facing third parties and Independents is gaining ground in the public consciousness.
For certain, it was exciting to see several terrific new works in 2009 tackling our issues from all sides of the political spectrum, and there’s more to come this year.
We’ve told you about Theresa Amato’s masterpiece Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny, which walks through her first-hand accounts of America’s hegemonic two-party-rigged system as Ralph Nader’s campaign manager in 2000 and 2004.
James Bennett’s Not Invited to the Party: How the Demopublicans Have Rigged the System and Left Independents Out in the Cold offers us another comprehensive look at how the two major parties managed to hijack our elections and our government.
Free & Equal hosted a forum on third-party ballot access at the Cato Institute last October that featured both of these fine authors. Check the video out here.
In late 2009, Theresa Amato and James Bennett were joined by conservative author Nelson Hultberg with the release of The Conservative Revolution: Why We Must Form a Third Political Party to Win It.
Ballot Access News has this summary of Hultberg’s new work:
He advocates the creation of a new party, to be called the Conservative American Party, which would stand for: (1) the federal reserve could not increase the money supply more than 4% per year; (2) a 10% personal income tax for all brackets; (3) a “mind-your-own-business” foreign policy; (4) more aggressive enforcement of laws against illegal immigration.
A nice full-length review of the book can be found on the Americans for a Free Republic Web site, a group founded by Hultberg. The review says Hultberg solves “two fundamental errors” that tend to doom a third party’s chances of truly being competitive inside the electoral arena with the two establishment parties.
This point in the review stands out: “Those who preach that we must, at all costs, eschew third-party efforts and ‘remain within the GOP’ are captives of a myth that is contributing greatly to the stultification of America.”
I have met many disgruntled conservatives over the years who would agree with Hultberg. This is because they, like so many Americans, are captive to a system that has been so thoroughly rigged by the duopoly that all hope of change is squelched.
A book set to come out in a few days, according to Ballot Access News, explores the merits of trying to govern fairly and effectively with a two-party system.
Does the U.S. Two-Party System Still Work? is slated for release January 15 by Greenhaven Press. According again to BAN, it will be an 80-page collection of essays, which should poke more well-deserved holes in the arguments used to marginalize alternative viewpoints in our political system.
I can’t wait.
yours in liberty,
Christina Tobin
Founder, CEO
The Free & Equal Elections Foundation
www.freeandequal.org
