U.S. Ready for a Third Party?

A new Zogby.com poll reveals a majority of those polled are unhappy with the current two-party system of government. At least 67 percent said they were dissatisfied with the current system while 31 percent said they were happy with it.

A majority of Democrats and Republicans polled are unhappy with the two-party system, but not everyone wants third parties to have a greater voice. The poll shows 64 percent of liberals and 58 percent of Democrats believe more parties would improve the political system but only 38 percent of conservatives and Republicans said the same thing.

At first glance this would appear to be good news for third parties.

But the release also says "As the nation marks its 231st birthday Wednesday, most Americans believe the U.S. Constitution is still serving the nation well."

This is, as we have pointed out, a fantasy. This could well mean that those who favor third parties favor parties which are even more radical a departure from the Constitution and limited government than the two major parties.

"Nine out of 10 respondents to a recent online survey said that, despite the massive changes that have occurred in the U.S. since the ratification of the Constitution in 1788, the guiding document of the nation is still relevant to modern life in America."

The reality has been known for over half a century, when the great constitutional scholar E. S. Corwin was told that Professor Powell of Harvard carefully warns his class in Constitutional Law each year against reading the Constitution, holding that to do so would be apt to "confuse their minds." Certain it is that of the 6,000-odd words of the constitutional document, at least 39 out of every 40 are totally irrelevant to the vast majority, as well as to the most important, of the problems which the Court handles each term in the field of constitutional interpretation.

Politicians today believe the oath to "support the Constitution" is a mere "formality." The Constitutional Republic set forth in the Constitution has been gutted and replaced with what scholars call an "Administrative State," a completely different form of government. Not a single person who signed the Constitution would recognize today's government as anything approaching a faithful discharge of the oath to "support the Constitution." Those who signed the Declaration of Independence, risking their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, would immediately see the current government as a "tyranny," and would begin their labors all over again.