Let's not forget the little guys

So as this week's election demonstrated, eventually appallingly bad leadership gets you sacked. Not soon enough, usually, but eventually, it does.

But in the afterglow of Obama's well-deserved victory, let's all pause to remember that our political system isn't just divided into Democrats and Republicans. America has a number of other parties, many of which, over the years, have fielded third-party candidates. For example, there's Ralph Nader who, for a self-serving, cynical, arrogant little prat, isn't, um, well, a quitter, I guess is what you can say about him. Ross Perot, the man who proved to the world that being rich and the head of a large corporation doesn't mean you know squat about leadership, domestic affairs, or foreign ones, ran as a third-party candidate. And of course, there was George Wallace, who ran for President on the American Independent Party ticket(AIP, pronounced just like it looks).

Of course, we shouldn't forget (although we'd like to) such mavericks as Ron Paul (an Ayn Rand fan and member of the Foreign Affairs committee of the House, despite believing that the US has no place in the UN or NATO) who is currently a Republican, but has run in the past as a Libertarian -- although strangely, his views on Liberty don't extend to reproductive choice.

Reaching further back, Teddy Roosevelt formed the Bull Moose party (or Progressive Party, as it preferred to be called), when he didn't get the 1912 GOP nomination. Its platform, in an uncanny foreshadowing, was titled "A Contract With the People," and had so many contradictions and anomalies that ... people loved it, enough to split the republican vote and give the election to the even-more-Progressive Democrats, Woodrow Wilson, in particular. (And we all know how well that worked out.)

And it goes on and on -- Wikipedia has a nice list of semi-organized wackos ... I mean, third parties, including such interesting groupings as:

The Modern Whig Party, a group so centrist that I couldn't really tell what it stands for, in the 30 or 40 seconds worth of research I was prepared to devote to it.

The Prohibition Party, which is exactly what you think it is. Apparently divided into two factions, the "pro-Dodge" and "anti-Dodge" groups. I selected one at random for the link, and frankly, I forget which one it is. If you figure it out, let me know, and explain what the one side has against Chrysler.

The Alaskan Independence Party, again, just what it sounds like (and a great idea, in my opinion.)

So the next time some Joe-the-Plumber, Joe Six-Pack, or (to steal a phrase from a friend of mine) Joe Bag-a-Donuts bellies up to the bar next to you and starts going on about how the damn two-party system is ruining the country, remember the wild and crazy guys and gals of our great third parties, and thank your ancestors none of 'em got elected.