More Adventures in Third Party History: Today, The Most Successful Third Party in Modern American Politics

Are you looking for a party which recognizes that Both Sides are to blame for the country's problems?  

Well lend an ear to this exciting news citizen!

"I resent the fact that the leaders of both national parties wouldn't spit on the people of Alabama and Georgia in the past.  They've taken us for granted and used us for a doormat for so long.  But now we are in control of the situation, and don't you ever believe we aren't in control. "

And this!

[Following a long story about how the common folk are too smart to fall for slick counterfeiters] "When the national Republican party and the national Democratic party come out with their ambiguous platform to try to pass it off on you and me in the Fall, let's give them some 6's and 9's in November and they'll understand that we understand the difference between the real stuff and the counterfeit stuff."

Are you looking for a party which recognizes that the real problem is the "system" and not the voters?

"Yes the professional Republicans -- and I'm not talking about the good Republicans or good Democrats or good Independents -- but the Republicans who come to your state and said, "Let us beat the national Democrats."  Well if that's all you want to do...you can do that with anybody!"

Are you looking for a party that wants to rescue our public institutions from vile politicians on Both Sides and return control of them to the people?

"So if you want to waste your vote in November you can vote Republican or Democratic because they don't think like you do. They don't think like I do.  Not a single one of these parties, ... has told you that they will turn back to you, your domestic institutions which includes the public school system...  We're gonna turn back lock, stock and barrel ... to the people the right to run your schools as you see fit."

Well then brother, do I have a Third Party for you!

It's called the American Independent Party, and it was founded in 1967 by Bill Shearer and his wife, Eileen Knowland Shearer for the purpose of nominating hardcore racist and segregationist George Wallace as its presidential candidate and retired U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay as the vice-presidential candidate. 

LeMay was a real "Nuke 'em all, let God sort 'em out" madman, who you may know best from his caricature, Colonel Jack D. Ripper, played by Sterling Hayden in Dr. Strangelove.

And every quote cited here is taken directly from George Wallace's 1968 third party campaign, which just goes to show you that this spewing Both Siderist bullshit and promising to deliver the common folk from the Evil System is nothing new.  

In fact, it is, of necessity, the bread and butter. of every third party scam.

All Wallace quotes are transcribed by me from this site, where they also note that:

Wallace ran on every state ballot in the election, though he did not represent the American Independent Party in all fifty states: in Connecticut, for instance, he was listed on the ballot as the nominee of the "George Wallace Party." The Wallace/LeMay ticket received 13.5 percent of the popular vote and 46 electoral votes from the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. No third-party candidate has won more than one electoral vote since the 1968 election,

And:

Wallace's campaign was well-funded, but he was also helped by the fact that he got a lot of free press. "He had this ability to seize upon issues to capture public attention," Dan Carter says. "And very quickly newspaper reporters and the broadcast media realized that he was good copy."

Sound familiar?

 And finally:

Many professional commentators derided Wallace (Tom Wicker of the New York Times referred to him as "the Alabama demagogue"), but still he appeared frequently on major television news shows.

Because in the Third Party game the script never changes.  

Just the packaging.

Me?  I'm Partisan A F.