American Conservative Party - The Changing American Political Landscape -image api
Addendum: To clarify there are two Conservative Parties - one the Conservative Party of New York, which nominated Doug Hoffman's as their candidate, and the American Conservative Party, which was founded in 2008.
According to Politico, the New York 23rd Districthas become a testing ground for the Conservative Party. As a general rule, a third party candidate rarely makes an impact in a state’s primary, let alone attains a higher office, be it a U.S. Congressional, U.S. Senate or State Governor’s seat. According to the Congressional Office of the Clerk only two seats are held by “Independents” in the U.S. Senate and the two major political parties hold all 50 of the State’s Governors positions.
That said, over the past six months, several conservative organizations, have attracted members from both Democrat, Republican, Conservative and Independent party affiliations; the Tea Party and 912 Project in response to multiple pieces of legislation passed or proposed by the Obama Administration and the Democrat controlled Congress.
The March on Washington to protest government waste and the growing deficit, attracted millions of disenfranchised voters and was downplayed in the U.S. press, . The Town Hall Meetings over health care reform saw huge attendance, all of which was characterized in the mainstream U.S. press as being designed by either Republican Party activist for large insurance companies. Leading members of the Democrat Party went so far as to chastise those attending as being “Nazi’s” or again, tools of the Republican Party or “Big Insurance”. Therein lay the problem with the extreme partisan policies of the current Administration and the like-minded members of the U.S. Congress – either ignorance or arrogance; a belief in the two party system is so entrenched in the minds of those in the beltway, that a failure to truly understand the pulse of the American electorate caused an extreme error in judgment. This backlash against a bi-partisan, multi-party protest has caused smaller parties to gain momentum, and this is now being tested in the New York 23rd district, and one would well imagine, that there are “Conservative” or Independent candidates in districts and states across the nation.
Is the angst of those who are investing their political affiliation into a third party directed solely at the Democrats? The resounding answer is no – a general distrusts of both political parties is fueling the move towards alternatives choices in government. During the Bush administration, a lack of a cohesive border control plan had conservatives up in arms. Between the two major political parties, conservatives or independents found the need for an alternative.
The New York 23rd appears to be a battleground of sorts, for both all three parties. The big story here is the fact that leading conservatives are jumping on board in support of a third party. A story by Conservative author and commentator, Michele Malkin is entitled: “Message to GOP: Can you hear conservatives now?”, and goes towards the general dissatisfaction conservatives feel towards the GOP “establishment”. That story has been updated, since GOP Vice Presidential Nominee, Sarah Palin, endorsed Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Candidate in the NY 23rd district. The Republican Candidate, Dede Scozzafava, was endorsed by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, and is seen by those in the Conservative Party, as more of the same. In other words, the moniker that became popular during the last few decades, ”Republicat”, refers to a melding of the political ideology of both major political parties.
The result is that the latest poll shows that the Conservative Party candidate, has gained substantial ground in the past two weeks, giving credence to both the Tea Party and 912 Project members who have flocked to New York in his support. It is not only the fact that Hoffman shares similar ideals, but it is also a slap at those in the media and the administration who wrongly characterized both movements as “Republican”.
Should the election on the 23rd result in Hoffman becoming the first Conservative Party U.S. Congressional Representative, it might behoove those living in the glass bubble that is the arrogance of major political parties, to rethink the power of the ordinary American and their desire to follow the U.S. Constitution rather than stay complacent as so may have done in the past.
Additional Reference: List of 912 Party endorsed candidates
