Colin's Last Stand, Episode 29: A Divided America Needs a Viable Third Option in 2020

Since I seem incapable of writing a post that is brief, I'm going to keep this one short and sweet. Harumph!! Bring on the Moderates!! Even though I am left of center, I try to act as a bridge and play devil's advocate with everyone I talk to in an effort to get people to at least consider with some depth the political beliefs that its feels like they've been prescribed by caucusing one direction or the other. Top down is critical to break the partisan deadlock, but we can all be agents of change if we just try to engage with one another calmly and cogently. It's a reason I love being part of the CLS community; the conversation is always civil, even around inflammatory topics, and the arguments from both sides are well reasoned, and people seem to be "earning" their beliefs through debate and reflection, which is all I really ask. Keep up the great work, Colin! You've made something great here...

Timothy Monnig

100% agree. I've voted GOP my whole life but it has nothing to do with an allegiance to the GOP, it has to do with the people who were running were people I trusted and had policies that lined up with my own. So if someone who is worthy of the office shows up again I'll gladly vote for them. Until then I'll vote for someone else who I beleive can better lead

It's hard to be funny when you're alone, and you're unscripted. =\

Colin Moriarty

Well, like I've said, it will at first require an independently wealthy candidate to go all-in. From there? We'd have to see what happens.

Colin Moriarty

There's no doubt that a top-down movement is hard to do, but as I said, there's also little doubt that a top-down movement is the only way this can be. The beauty of it, I think, is that it forces the two main parties to become competitive again. I think that even if a third party gains prominence without winning, but does well at the polls, it'll be a massive shock to the system that will right what ills the parties currently. Finally, they'd have to cater to people in the middle, not at the extremes. It could turn the entire paradigm on its head.

Colin Moriarty

As I've said in the past, I'd be happy to go back to the GOP as soon as they run people who are normal, moderate, and can win. If Kasich primaries Trump, I'd absolutely consider supporting him. In the meantime, the GOP isn't for me, and so I voted third party, too, and will continue to until things change.

Colin Moriarty

You can spin the numbers in any number of ways (which, as you said, was done), but I was shocked more people didn't look at how many people didn't answer, and how that really does show a growing gulf.

Colin Moriarty

Yes, but I'm not sure winning is the ultimate goal, at least not at first. By picking off a few states and throwing the entire arithmetic into turmoil, people will start paying attention. I mean, just consider it: What if some reliably blue states went third party? What if some red also went third party? What if a random state, like New Mexico or Montana, was suddenly in the third party camp? What if a swing state like Ohio was teetering third party? The entire system would be in disarray, and that's how we'd get change. Also keep in mind that there have been successful (not winning, but successful) third party runs in the past. In the famous 1860 election, four people ran. In 1912, the third party (Teddy) came in second place. Anything is possible!

Colin Moriarty

The thing about The Rock is that people really like him, and by virtually all accounts, he's an actually nice and decent person. That could go a long way towards getting people to listen to his ideas. 2020 could be crazy!

Colin Moriarty

It's not just the two of you. I very much miss Colin's humor as well as his riled up monologues. But this style is not as easy to pull off in a solo situation. When there were others around him to have banter with, it was much easier for these situations to happen naturally. But I'm sure CLS will evolve and as Colin finds his rhythm, the workload and stress will feel less burdensome, and he'll find ways to work in this other side of his personality. I believe his goal, to share his passion for history and politics, is best served by making the content fun and funny. Obviously this can't or shouldn't always be the case, depending on the subject matter and situation, but I believe it's generally true. I already find the content engaging, informative, and well-produced. If he adds in a bit of the looser, less-structured, funnier side of himself, I think it will not only delight his long-time audience, but also better serve his content and attract an overall wider audience. But I'm sure this will come in time. Colin, if you happen to read this, thank you for the great content so far and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Throw7

He will see your comment man. I think we all miss that too but this new venture he's still trying to find who exactly makes up the audience and what feels right to him (that's my guess and what he's alluded to in the Q&A's). The last thing anyone wants to do on YouTube is "force" being funny. Once this community kind of settles into those of us who are sticking around for the long haul he can get comfortable and be himself. I agree with you, I love it when he gets riled up and pissed off and sarcastic but it can't be forced. My favorite "full Colin" moment (as we say 😉) of all time might very well be when him and Kevin went at it the day after this election on the morning show. It's why I asked if he would be doing interviews because other people help bring that out. But I get that this isn't an interview show so my hope is he can find his comfort zone with continuing to provide thought provoking well researched content. If the majority of patreon support here are down and he feels naturally able to let that great sarcasm roll on out I'm all for it. But no pressure the content is great. I can't even tell you how many documentaries and history books I've found and read since he started this up... and I thought I hated history. So it's all been great as far as I'm concerned. I do agree with you though in the sense that if sarcastic "full Colin" shows up in any videos I'd fully embrace that as well 😁👍. Honestly I felt a little of that at the end of this video. To be clear Colin if you read this man this is in no way saying your videos aren't good enough, it's just a side of you we've all seen and if it comes back out in the future there might be a lot of us that embrace it... but then again maybe it's just Eric and I haha so yeah you do what feels right man.

Christopher Lee

It seems that with the vice grip that the two main parties have on the electoral system, it will be a long hard slog to get a "third way" party organized, funded and on the ballot by 2020. Look at the struggle of the Libertarian Party.

I have two main issues with a centrist movement, one of which I think will be fatal to the birth and growth of it: a) I seriously think a catch-all centrist party/movement is bad for the political system in the medium and long term. It would freeze the system creating one and only winner party for decades killing the old tradition of competitive democracy the US is characterised by. But, more importantly: b) as you said in the video, such movement would come from the top and that's ultimately why I think it would fail since the beginning. A political movement in my opinion needs a strong foundation to stick around. Let's say a popular american rises up as a strong third party candidate in 2020, if he or she doesn't win that election what happens next? The movement would be necessarily built around him/her, it would quickly collapse as this candidate wouldn't make it. In my view the solution is a true transformation of the two main parties, maybe even the birth of new ones, but still with the postitive center-left Vs centre-right dualism (or whatever dualism the 21st century has in store for us since these two categories seem to be more and more antiquated). Of course, (not) knowing these crazy times we live in I wouldn't even be surpised if everything I said here turned out to be incorrect in the coming months and years.

GabrieleEU

During our most recent presidential election I chose not to vote for the lesser of two evils. In my opinion both Hillary and Trump showed to be dishonest with their characteristics and both backed ideas and principles that were overly extreme. There's no doubt that some of their policies and ideas were good. There are some things that President Donald Trump stands for that I can absolutely get behind, and he is my president so I will respect him even if I can also be honest and say that some of the things he is doing I don't stand for at all. Meanwhile the same goes for Hillary, there are certainly some things that she was calling for that I could get behind and if she were voted in I would respect that. But there's also many things about her that I did not like. So I chose to vote third-party. But not just because I didn't want to vote for the lesser of two evils but also because I saw the same opening that you are speaking about Colin. Politics have always been messy and some of media has always been biased. But over the last decade and certainly over the last couple years it has gone way too far. It feels like we are in the separated states of America as opposed to the United States of America. It's like if you don't have the same opinion as me then you are worthless to me. And that's just wrong. I can totally accept that we all have different thoughts and opinions on how to best steer the nation. But there's also no doubt that the right wing and the left-wing have separated so far and gotten so extreme that there might be a lane right down the middle. So I was eager to see the results of this most recent election. Obviously I didn't expect that the person I voted for would win but I was hoping that the numbers would be we opening to people and hopefully pave the way for a third-party that could be honest and straightforward and reasonable. I don't know how many years we might be away from a third-party actually winning an election. But if each year and each election we continue to chip away then perhaps it will open the eyes of the right and the left and perhaps it will force change in those parties. Or perhaps it will completely Open the door for a third-party to win. And that would be amazing. If someone who is representing the donkey or the elephant is reasonable and honest and stands for policies that I agree with than I will absolutely certainly vote for that person. but if that person doesn't arrive from The left or the right and I see someone from the middle that seems far more suited to lead our nation then that is the person I will vote for every time.

When it came to this pew research, the media was very frustrating. They took the stat of republicans disagreeing with colleges being a positive in America and ran with it as if the reason was republicans are just dumb and hate education. I really want to believe it's cognitive dissonance on the medias part. I mean, when you have these colleges (especially the UC system) being ran almost exclusively by the left and republicans are almost considered 2nd class citizens on these campuses, how can you expect those on the right to look at colleges positively? There's so much indoctrination on campuses. Corruption too.

Nicholas Swanson

Wouldn't the electoral college play into a potential problem in getting someone elected? I don't think the electoral college would go anywhere, but if there was a viable candidate getting votes wouldn't it run the risk of running into a popular vote vs electoral vote situation again? - I really hope Cuban runs.

Owen

Great vid. It's something I've been thinking about for awhile as well. Last election was the first in which I was eligible to vote and boy oh boy did I wish there was a viable third option. I ended up voting Johnson just out of my conscience but it really got me thinking about the possibility of a third party coming along. I feel like if we get a big name to run as independent in 2020 (The Rock??? lol) it could shake things up and convince people to break away from our two terrible parties

MrHollawood