The Third Party Option

I spoke with a friend today who informed me of a conversation she had with an acquaintance of ours. Politics was the topic of both conversations and the subject of third parties came up. This other friend, a good Catholic, is standing pat with his decision to vote third party in November in favor of the Constitution Party (if memory serves me correctly). Among traditional Catholic circles, third parties often entice a good number with their laudable goals of returning immediately to the America of the founding: smaller federal government, greater deference to states' rights, the abolition of the plethora of federal agencies, etc. That's all fine and good but whatever happened to living in the present? Put simply, those goals are impossible to achieve now. Incremental stages will be the only possible way we can begin a return to first principles. A McCain presidency, followed up by the more conservative Palin, just might present us with the opportunity for the gradual stripping down of the size of the federal government. We know exactly what we'll get with a President Obama: bigger everything, ultra-liberal Supreme Court justices coupled with perhaps irreversible moves to the Socialist position. With Obama on the cusp of a devastating victory, the stakes are too high this election to tinker around with the completely unrealistic objective of electing a third party candidate. Intelligent people, rooted first in principle but guided by pragmatism, should be able to see this. Ideologues, I'm afraid, are just incapable of it. The total votes that a third party candidate may garnish in November will be small enough to be forgotten in a season or two but perhaps just large enough to help maneuver Obama into the White House. But hey, third party groupies can rest on the lonely laurel of having "made their point." The abortion issue alone should be enough to compel good Catholics to make the best choice, given the circumstances. But ideologues, on the right and left, often have trouble in the "given the circumstances" category.

National Review, that rag of "neo-conservative" jingoism so scorned by the far right, put it nicely recently: "We hope liberty lovers who help Obama win enjoy their higher taxes, socialized medicine, and far-Left Supreme Court appointments."