Third parties matter

INside forgot about something in its last issue.

On this campus, we have groups for the Libertarian candidate Bob Barr and Independent candidate Ralph Nader. I’d talk about other third parties, but they do not have student groups at IU. I personally am a member of the Nader group. We had somebody work on that campaign during the summer. We have a group president. We like politics. Why are the respective leaders of these student organizations not featured and interviewed while leaders from the two major parties are? 

Do we not matter? Does the dissenting voice in American politics not matter anymore? I thought this college town was supposed to be progressive.
 
If you put Nader’s or Barr’s policies next to the corporate candidates’ policies (Democrats and Republicans), you see more choices and a major difference. For example, Nader is against No Child Left Behind, while the two candidates for the corporate party both support it. Nader did not support the bailout. He does not support sending troops to Pakistan. Barr supports the conservative limited government falsely preached by Republicans but also supports quickly pulling out of Iraq and a non-imperialist foreign policy.  

I could go on about the differences. Unfortunately, INside did not. You just unknowingly succumbed to the hegemony of the two major parties.

If you take a look at the policies of Democrats and Republicans, you will see that the differences between them are minimal. Both oppose a major overhaul of the health care system to reduce costs. Both want to keep troops in the Middle East. Both fail to recognize the Palestinian persecution in Israel. Both support the massive, wasteful military budget. Neither discusses a carbon tax to help solve global warming. Neither addresses the need to crack down on corporate crime, including the crime that led to this current economic downturn. 

Visit Barr’s and Nader’s respective campaign Web sites to see how they differ from the two-party duopoly.   

Dan Watts
IU senior