Third party candidates have been part of our electoral
process for many elections. However,
they usually do not win but in a close election, they can have an influence. Usually that influence is not what the
supporters of the third party expected.
When attending school, I have to admit to not understanding
the need to study history. I got good grades
in history but since I did not see history’s importance, I did not take much
time to think about what I learned or remember it. However, as I got older I learned the
importance of history for history is where we learn lessons that help us not to
make the same mistakes others have made.
100 years ago in 1912 our country had a hotly contested Presidential
election. The winner of that election
was Woodrow Wilson. President Wilson was
an enthusiastic advocate of progressivism.
Central to progressive thought is,
The notion that society needs an
intellectual elite, endowed with superior wisdom and judgment, to refashion and
transform it by methodically implementing as many progressive policies as
possible. The best way to facilitate such an arrangement, progressives believe,
is to impose, on the society, leadership by a powerful, preferably charismatic,
virtually deified strongman capable of implementing such policies quickly and
without opposition. In short, progressives favor something resembling an
imperial presidency. (1)
Wilson viewed the system of checks and balances built into
the Constitution as “artificial” and “antiquated.” President Wilson was an advocate of what we
call today the “Living Constitution” (1) and was quoted as
saying
Justly revered as our great
Constitution is, it could be stripped off and thrown aside like a garment, and
the nation would still stand forth in the living vestment of flesh and sinew,
warm with the heart-blood of one people, ready to recreate constitutions and
laws. ... Woodrow Wilson (2)
Wilson a former president of Princeton had transformed the
University using the model of the German university. He was a champion of Hegelianism, a thought
opposed to the natural rights philosophy of the Founders of our country. (2) He believed the progressive philosophy that
rights came from an all-powerful elite ruling class of intellectuals who
understood best what people in society needed.
During the Wilson Administration, the 16th and 17th
amendments to the constitution were written as well as the passage of
legislation creating the Federal Reserve.
These three things laid the foundation for the modern day progressive movement. This progressive movement has brought us to
the point we currently find ourselves in as a nation.
The 16th amendment authorized congress to create
an income tax. (3) Since then, the income tax has become a tool
progressives use to transfer wealth from the wealthy to the poor.
The 17th amendment took the election of U.S.
Senators away from State Legislatures and gave it to the voters of each state. (4) State Legislatures
would elect Senators who would have the best interest of the preservation of
states rights especially the rights of the state they were elected from. By placing the election of Senators in the
hands of the voter, they gave voters the power to elect Senators who would work
in their best interest instead of the interest of the State. This in essence opened the door for the
election of a Senate interested in a centralized government instead of the
interests of their states.
The creation of the Federal Reserve took control of National
Monetary policy away from the elected branches of government and placed it in
the control of a board appointed by officials who may not have the best
interests of the American People in mind.
According to Dr. Ken Matto, former Congressional Candidate, 6th District
N.J.
The Federal Reserve was
incorporated in 1914 and has been creating a completely unnecessary national
debt ever since. In simple terms, the Fed creates money as debt. They create
money out of thin air by nothing more than a book entry. Whenever the members
of the Fed make any loans, that debt money is our money supply. (5)
This leads us to ask an important question, how a majority
of the American electorate could vote for someone so against the Constitution
and the unalienable rights of U.S. Citizens.
The answer to that question is they did not. Woodrow Wilson only carried 41.84% of the
popular vote. The remaining 58.16% of
the vote was split among the Republican candidate William Taft who carried
23.17% of the vote and various other candidates representing third
parties. (6)
It is likely that a majority of the electorate in 1912 was
not interested in fundamentally transforming our government from a constitutional
republic into a government that supported a living constitution that could be
changed at the will of whoever was in power at the time. Most likely, the voters voting third party
were unhappy with both the Democrat and Republican Party and voted for someone else. Unfortunately, they did not get what they
desired and instead gave radical progressivism a foothold in our country.
Going forward 100 years to 2012, we once again have voters
that are unhappy with Democrats and Republicans and are considering voting
third party. Granted not nearly in the
numbers we observed in 1912 but in a close election they could cause key swing
states to go to the Democrat or Republican without either of them carrying a
majority of the popular vote.
I urge anyone considering voting third party in this close
election to look at what happened in 1912 and reconsider. Neither Obama nor Romney is perfect but one
of them will be our next president. Unfortunately,
this means we will get someone we will not agree with 100%. The last 4 years President Obama has shown a
total disregard for constitutional government.
He promised change in 2008 and has shown us that his idea of change is
to fundamentally change the structure of government in this country from a
country ruled by the rule of law to a country ruled by a strong centralized
government.
Romney on the other hand is interested in changing this
country back to what made it great. He sees
the effects of progressivism and how it has caused or nation to accrue $16
trillion in debt. He sees the effect of
high taxation on private business and wants to reduce those taxes so businesses
can expand and hire more people. Romney
also understands that our country has enemies and needs a strong national
security to protect us from them.
We will have differences with either man over the next four
years but Obama has shown us that he has a total disregard for anyone who
disagrees with him. With Obama, it is
his way or the highway as evidenced by his numerous executive orders. With Romney, we have someone who is used to
negotiating with the boards and stockholders of the companies he helped turn
around. I believe he will be open to listen
to the voters who put him in office as well as those who voted against
him.
If you are still considering voting third party in this
election, I urge you to study history, especially the history of the 1912
election and reconsider.
1. Discoverthenetworks.org. Policies of
President Woodrow Wilson. www.discoverthenetworks.org. [Online] [Cited:
October 18, 2012.]
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=1224.
2. Curry, Robert.
Woodrow Wilson's Constitution. www.freerepublic.com. [Online] Free
Republic, July 25, 2008. [Cited: October 18, 2012.] 2012.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051567/posts.
3. Cornell
University Law School. 16th Amendment. www.law.cornell.edu. [Online]
[Cited: October 18, 2012.]
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxvi.
4. —. 17th Amendment. www.law.cornell.edu.
[Online] [Cited: October 18, 2012.]
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxvii.
5. Matto, R. Ken.
The Federal Reserve: History of Lies, Thievery, and Deceit. www.scionofzion.com.
[Online] [Cited: October 18, 2012.]
http://www.scionofzion.com/federalreserve.htm.
6. uselectionatlas.org.
1912 Presidential General Election Results. 222.uselectionatlas.org. [Online]
[Cited: October 18, 2012.] http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?f=0&year=1912.
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