Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The rise of the Media Party
From the RoundTable blog
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Andrew Akers
Akers has been the treasurer of the Roanoke Valley Libertarian Party for the past eight years. He lives in Salem.
In a letter May 29, "Quit griping, or run for office," C. Edward Townsend III calls Editorial Page Editor Dan Radmacher a "presidential wannabe." His remark got me to thinking: Why couldn't Radmacher be president, if he truly wants to be? He's probably a better choice than either John McCain or Barack Obama.
Radmacher, president? Impossible, you say. Yet, I can envision the scenario unfolding in five brief steps.
Radmacher would take the first step himself. He would use his Sunday column to announce the long-awaited formation of a third political party -- one that, unlike its contemporaries, really does know how government ought to be run. This new party would be made up mostly of journalists, editors and pundits. It would be called the Media Party.
The Media Party would work for the empowerment of all people, mainly by giving a voice to their community leaders and coalition representatives. It would seek to expand the role of not just government, but collective decision-making, ensuring that "we the people" control the government that controls us.
In essence, a Media-run government would make political news and opinion more important. It would cure political apathy by keeping everyone focused on current events, wondering what he or she might be taxed, fined or imprisoned for next.
A second necessary step would be the accelerated growth of the Media Party into a grass-roots organization to rival any minor party. This would happen without any special help from its members in the media (who would, of course, remain unbiased and objective). The Media Party, though small and new, would just naturally stand out among the minor parties as truly representative of America.
For that reason alone, Radmacher's momentous column would be reprinted in all major newspapers, its author interviewed on all network news shows. Any Media Party press releases would get front-page coverage. As a consequence, the Media Party would quickly surpass the other minor parties in name recognition and familiarity. This, in turn, would lead to a rapid influx of money and members.
The third step would be the nomination of Radmacher as the Media Party's presidential candidate.
One way minor parties distinguish themselves from the majors is by putting principle above expediency. Thus, Media Party members would nominate their founder -- an obscure newspaper editor -- because they judged him to be a wise, knowledgeable man of great integrity, one who thoroughly believes in, and can communicate, the party's philosophy.
Ascendency of Radmacher to national celebrity status would be the fourth step. Normally, nominating a no-name candidate for reasons of principle would doom a minor party to continued obscurity. But as the candidate of the Media Party, Radmacher would rival the major-party candidates in media attention, transforming him into a universally recognized figure within days.
Again, this free publicity would not be due to any favoritism by the news media or any bias toward one of their own. It would simply be that Radmacher, like the Media Party itself, has his finger on the pulse of America.
Candidate Radmacher would call for left and right to put aside their petty differences and come together for a frenzy of new legislation: taxes, programs, subsidies, regulations, etc. This message, news people know, would have the power to awaken a sleeping mass of disenfranchised moderates and centrists, voters fed up with the party-based gridlock that hinders government expansion.
The fifth and final step would be winning the election. As Radmacher's poll numbers rose along with his notoriety, he would come to be seen as a viable alternative to the major-party candidates. Then, like Ross Perot in 1992, he would attract the half-hearted support of every disgruntled voter in the country. Even those who didn't know or like his policies would want to give him a shot.
With the voting public evenly divided over the prospects of Democrat versus Republican leadership, Radmacher's bipartisan appeal would have the effect of splitting the electorate three ways. This would allow him to win with a mere 34 percent of the popular vote.
Following Radmacher's victory, some would accuse the "mainstream media" of having influenced the presidential race. But political commentators from all over the media would quickly dismiss the accusation as absurd.
News, after all, is a business. The major media corporations are in competition, not unified. They earn their profits only by giving America what America wants. All credit, those commentators would insist, should go to the Party, the candidate and the message. "The people have spoken; end of discussion."
