Don’t be too hard on third party candidates

I think people are way too hard on third party candidates and their vote totals, they are doing their small part to make their crack in breaking a tremendous wave of inertia flowing against them and that deserves tremendous respect, let’s break it down.

• Most people don’t vote, don’t volunteer, don’t donate
• Most people that do vote don’t follow the election closely enough and vote based on the opinions of people they trust or on party line.
• Of the people who do follow campaigns most automatically assume third party failure creating an enthusiasm gap.
• This gap creates a hug difference in # of donors, media, and volunteers a third party can get because people assume their efforts are better elsewhere creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A major party candidate has the exact opposite situation. A major party candidate already has a base of people who’ll just vote their way so they only have to worry about mobilizing their base and appealing to enough moderate voters to win and don’t have ballot access barriers, and also have assumed credibility getting them media, donors, and volunteers not cause of the candidate but out of sheer intertia. (The catch is the party apparatus prevents more often that not any voice of substance from ever being a candidate to prevent any threat to their inertia in particular with donors)

Can all this be overcome? Yes, and it will be but it takes time, patience and effort. Every small win or exceeding of expectation narrows that enthusiasm gap earning a little bit more media, donors and volunteers for the next step. Every state in which we earn ballot access in frees up resources for the next candidate.

In the meantime while we build that critical mass we can run candidates talking about real issues and making real changes to hearts and minds creating the candidates, volunteers and donors of tomorrow. Change is happening with every campaign even if there isn’t an awesome victory party at the end.