What America needs: rise of strong three party system

By: Kurt Ritzman

Posted: 10/21/05

The upcoming New Jersey gubernatorial election pits Republican Doug Forrester against Democrat Jon Corzine, as the two part candidates. In my opinion, however, neither of these candidates are viable choices, so for my vote I have to look elsewhere.

These candidates don't even seem that different to me. Both advocate many government programs that are expensive and are perhaps better left to the private sector. New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation already. Both candidates have plans to reduce the property tax. Forrester's is a 30 percent decrease in the next three years, and Corzine's is a 40 percent drop over the next four years. Corzine's Web site postulates that his tax decrease will cost $1.67 billion, while Forester's will cost $15.2 billion over the four-year period. These large costs lead me to question where all that money will come from. I mean, they are lowering property tax.

Forrester wants to decrease class sizes in New Jersey public schools, but that is another program that costs money. He also advocates an aggressive security policy, and although that sounds like good, where is the money coming from? Forrester claims that he will be forced to cut wasteful spending, but how is that going to work when he is not cutting programs, but in fact adding programs?

Forrester isn't the only candidate that seeks to add new government programs while supposedly lowering taxes; Corzine has his own ideas to increase the size of the government. He wants to create a pool of money to pay out for the costs of any catastrophe that might hit, and he wants to expand the hours that community health centers are open. Both of this programs take money out of my pocket and again should probably be left to the private sector, at least in my opinion. Corzine also has this "brilliant" idea to require insurance companies to allow parents to cover grown-up children from the ages of 19-30. This raises my insurance costs, and if a person is wasting his life so that he can't get his own insurance after the finish school, then I have no sympathy for him and certainly don't want to pay for him to be covered.

This election gives many other options, as eight independent and third-party candidates are running. If you were going to line up these candidates with the most interesting candidate at the top, then I would expect Edward Forchion to rise to the top of everyone's list.

Forchion, perhaps better known as NJWeedman, has created his own party, The Legalize Marijuana Party of America. I know what you must be thinking: NJWeedman for Governor? That's a joke, right? Well, not exactly. In 2004, Forchion was the leading third party vote-getter in all of New Jersey. His goal is to receive at least 100,000 votes and to finish third in the gubernatorial race. But this led me to wonder, what if Forchion actually won?

I can say this for him: He certainly would be a defender of people's rights. He claims that he is not a marijuana activist but a rights activist. Although the party's main goal is to legalize marijuana, it also wishes to protect all rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The LMP Web site espouses the idea that the country will either be free or drug-free, but certainly not both. LMP members "declare their support to freedom only." The LMP also claims that Republicans and Democrats are traitors and that no party member should lend support to these parties, but parties that support personal freedoms, such as the Libertarian party, should be treated as allies.

So what could we expect from Forchion if he were elected the governor of New Jersey? Well, I'm not sure that Forchion has thought much about a tax plan, although he does advocate the taxation of marijuana. Taxation not incarceration is the stance, according to the LMP, for use of the herb. Instead of jailing people for use, make it a government-regulated commodity. This would benefit the general populace in two major ways. First it would increase tax revenue, and second, it would save a lot of money by ending the "expensive failure" of the war on drugs.

I can picture Forchion's policy on most all issues somehow relating back to marijuana, which perhaps is not the best way to govern. I'm afraid that I can't endorse Forchion as a candidate because of his limited platform, even though I agree with what he wants to do. I suggest that he consider what he wants to do besides issues regarding marijuana if he wants to be considered a viable candidate.

The fact that I find neither main-party candidate acceptable and the third party candidates, including NJWeedman, are either too radical or have platforms that are not well-developed enough lead me to believe that the rise of a strong third party is something that this state, and most likely this country, needs. At this point in time, I'm not overly concerned with the stance of the fantasy party on social issues, because the problem that I find more pressing is the growth of the government and its usurpation of services that belong in the private sector. So, this party would give control back to the private sector and drastically decrease the size of government. What should be evident to everyone is that the smaller the government is, the less likely there is to be inefficiency.

This third party would need to be strong and rise to national prominence for it to be effective, and would put it in the gap that is caused by similarities between the Republican and Democratic parties, which is basically large taxation and large spending because of superfluous government programs.

I'm not advocating turning everything over to the private sector, at least not at this point in time. The government can keep control of the police and legal systems and the roads for now, and I could list many other things, but we're trying to show what they don't need to control. For example, I believe that the private sector should be given control of healthcare and insurance, doctors and hospitals and public transportation, which I'm not sure would be so "public" anymore. I'm not trying to change everything with some big revolution or anything; I just feel the country would be better served with a smaller government.

I don't see either of the current two major parties doing that, so that naturally leads to the needed rise of a third party.

Kurt Ritzman is a junior majoring in communications. He can be reached at kurt.ritzman@thetriangle.org.