I would swoon and faint with overwhelming joy if a viable third party emerged. I'm really sick of the "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos" mentality of the U.S. political system.

I'm concerned, however, that the emergence of a third party would give an unfair and unnecessary boost to one of the old parties, due to the winner-take-all rules of our republic. If only we had some sort of proportional representation ... I think it was Jon Stewart who said, "The Dems got 48% of the vote, and they've got 2% of the power." That sums up the problem nicely.

Let's say a mildly conservative third party emerges. Let's say it takes 10% of the vote. If 8% of that is taken from the Reublican base, you're going to see the Republicans wiped out of office completely. Whether or not you thing that's a good thing, it's hardly representative.

Here's the Lemur's ultimate centrist platform:

  • Smaller government (i.e., no auto-increases for any Federal programs, and a re-examination of every Federal entitlement program). Middle-class entitlements are the single biggest drain on the Government's budget, so all of them need to be pruned, and in some cases eliminated.
  • All congressional districts to be re-drawn by independent panels, with a focus on geographic continuity and existing civic borders (county, town, borough, etc.). Congressional seats need to be competitive, not lifelong fiefdoms. Iowa has done a good job on this, so we would use them as the model.
  • All fines and punishments for lobbyists to be reduced to a single mandatory sentence: Horsewhipping.
  • Corporations will no longer enjoy all of the rights and protections that apply to tax-paying citizens.
  • All agricultural and industrial subsidies to be re-examined, and whenever possible eliminated.
  • All trade tariffs to be re-examined, and whenever possible eliminated.
  • Enforcement of all laws pertaining to punishment of employers who use illegal immigrant labor. (If you hire an illegal, you will face fines and probably jail.) If we choke off the demand, the supply will dwindle. I can't think of anything that would reduce illegal immigration more quickly.
  • Re-balance the budget, and begin an aggressive paydown of the national debt. Deficit spending would require a 2/3rds majority in both the House and Senate.
  • De-criminalization and taxation of marijuana. (No, I don't smoke, but millions of Americans do, and it does us no good to criminalize large swaths of the productive population. A law that millions break on a daily basis is probably a bad law. Also, I see no point in diverting all of that potential tax revenue into criminal enterprises.)
  • Prostitution to be decriminalized, regulated and taxed. See my reasons in the previous point. An additional reason would be that the women and men who traffic in their bodies need to be protected when possible from pimps and madams.

Well, with those last two points I probably lost us the election. Those are my ideas for this morning. Feel free to tell my why they're ridiculous.