They didn’t get anybody elected, but the new party started by Jim Rex and Oscar Lovelace is counting its blessings after Tuesday’s vote. And if you think about it, they did pretty well in their initial effort to break up the mindless two-party paradigm:
THE AMERICAN PARTY SHINES DURING INAUGURAL ELECTION
Columbia, S.C. – The candidates of South Carolina’s newest political party, the American Party, received more votes than that of any other third party’s candidates in Tuesday’s elections.
While only nine months old, the American Party of South Carolina out performed every other party except for the two major parties on Tuesday with American Party candidates receiving, collectively, more than 153,000 votes.
“We are extremely proud of our candidates and the positive way in which they ran their races,” said American Party Chairman Dr. Jim Rex. “With few financial resources and no television ads, we showed that ideas do matter and that voters are seeking more options at the polls than they have been getting.”
Rex pointed to the extremely low voter turnout at about 43 percent as a sign that voters are disenchanted with the status quo candidates.
As it stands now only a handful of voters in one of the major parties, during their primary, decide who our leaders are in South Carolina. Voter participation in general elections is getting lower and voter apathy is growing. Voters are getting fed up with the two-party status quo system and are staying home on election day.
While the major parties are becoming more and more extreme, the American Party is focused on problem solving and governing from the middle.
According to Rex, it’s not just about who won or lost on Tuesday. The American Party is in this for the long haul to change South Carolina . Change does not occur overnight, but the American Party has made great strides in a very short time. The party believes that the political middle represents the largest portion of our electorate and that those voters are hungry for a fresh approach to politics.. “We will work to get beyond a system hijacked by partisan extremists and get back to governing. It will take a few election cycles, but we are on our way,” said Rex.
During 2015 the American Party will be organizing in each of South Carolina’s 46 counties while working on the party’s “Recall Election” initiative launched in September. The initiative is aimed at enhancing governmental accountability by amending the State Constitution to give registered voters the option to recall elected officials who violate the trust placed in them by the electorate.
More information on the American Party of South Carolina can be found on facebook and on line atwww.americanpartysc.gov.
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Competition for improved results is why this successful country has largely been about. Unlike those who advocate for a single party, or no party, I favor MORE competition.
Competition might make straight-party voting less appropriate for more knowledgeable voters, and the political process more open and honest.
With today’s media concentration on form over substance, political openess has been obscured. For instance, in 2006 to 2013, which foreign countries have lobbied our congress for passage of what laws, who sponsored said laws, who were the lobbyists, and how much revenue was received in each respoect by said lobbyists?
Without transparency in such matters, without appropriate press coverage of same, how intelligenly can voters choose between candidates, Brad ? Blind trust is precisely why we have so many straight party voters.