Third party politics

In third party politics, there is often internal conflict between preserving the purity of party ideology versus compromising for the sake of electoral success. Without taking a firm line on the debate (it depends on the probability of candidate actually winning and their visibility), it is important to emphasize the unstated mission of third party politics is to goad and challenge the major party with the closest ideology to adopt positions closer to that of the third party. With this in mind, the most important elements of third party politicking is clarity of message and transparency of organization.

First and foremost, outside parties are engaged in educating voters about overlooked issues. Effective education requires clear and concisely precise communication of party and/or candidate issues and positions. This information should include descriptions of the office each candidate is running for, especially the responsibilities of those offices; how each candidate would carry out the responsibilities of office (would they consider constituency opinions in office or are they free of constituency opinions because voters elected them knowing their positions on the ‘important’ issues) and how candidate political positions will affect their decision making and conduct in office.

Transparency functions to void issues of trust. Consider how Congress is ranked lower than lice. It’s understandable because we can see and know what lice are up to; politicians can and do hide their true constituents and interests. A third party candidate with little hope of winning office can set a high standard of transparency by doing the following: (1) respectfully answer relevant questions from reporters and voters (intrusive personal questions should be ignored); (2) make campaign donations publicly available (properly coded for donor privacy); (3) make schedule of campaign & fundraising events and meetings with persons with interests associated with the office publicly available (with appropriate regard for security). It would also be nice to know how candidates would have addressed some of the issues actually faced by the current office holder. Transparency would serve to diffuse opponent attacks and contrast the differences between candidates. The hope is that opponent transparency would increase scrutiny of major party candidates and force them to be more responsive to the interests of voters and improve the quality of political discourse. Third parties should lead by example by taking the high ground.