What All Third Parties Can Agree On
October 9, 2012
By Roger Copple
The non-electoral methods of the Occupy Wall Street movement are energizing millions who have been alienated for a long time from the two-party system of sham that the 1% controls.
Some reformers, most likely in support of the Occupy movement, are proposing an amendment to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling in 2010 that empowers corporations to unfairly influence political campaigns with large financial donations.
But even if Citizens United was overturned, how many years would it take to make it happen, and would it make that much difference, considering all the other major democratic reforms needed? I say no.
All third parties already agree that the ballot access laws in each state should make it easier for third parties to get on the ballot. Attempts to reform such laws have not been successful. But even if ballot access laws were dramatically and miraculously improved, third parties, under the current system, would still not get as many votes as the Republicans and Democrats.
Fighting state-by-state battles for easier ballot access for third parties should still continue, but is there a long-term, national strategy that could fully empower third parties? Yes. Third parties need to agree and widely publicize that they support a Twenty-Eighth Amendment proposal that revises Article V in our current constitution. Such a proposal, as stated below, would make it easier to amend and also easier to abolish the current constitution.
The amendment proposal below shows how a system of proportional representation can be used to elect Constitutional Convention delegates, who will then create a new constitution. The new supreme document will truly reflect the collective will and current worldview of all Americans, not just the will of the far Right or the far Left. Here is how the proposal could read:
Proposal for a Twenty-Eighth Amendment to Revise Article V: A Proposal That Shows How to Amend and How to Abolish the Constitution More Easily
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