tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26480674793224621812024-09-10T21:45:52.496-07:00A polite forum for political discourse - changing politics one vote at a time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-69499157975804119632018-03-12T15:27:00.000-07:002018-03-12T15:27:38.130-07:00

There are ways that America as a whole has moved toward the Right and there are ways specifically that the Republican Party has pushed further right. While this arguably began shifting in the 1960s, the most significant movement has occurred since Reagan took office and “mainstreamed” a lot of ideology that had previously not been embraced by moderates. The shift was easily made during the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-29583679539752721382016-07-26T09:10:00.001-07:002016-07-26T09:10:46.628-07:00

Ben 241 years ago today, the Second Continental Congress established the postal system and elected Benjamin Franklin to run it (he had previous experience as Postmaster General for the British). This is one of the most significant moments of US history, and our postal system is actually older than the United States itself. With all the blather about the conventions (along with the amazingly

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-17228432312033774592014-07-15T16:01:00.001-07:002014-07-15T16:01:02.934-07:00

I wrote an article a few years ago that generated some positive responses and ended up being cited as a source in another random article that I had come across on the web, in which I laid out an argument for professional media producers to take responsibility for the products they create in terms of their affect on society at large. While that article is still valid, it does not address the

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-86544790653576148242014-07-07T13:03:00.003-07:002014-07-07T13:04:57.919-07:00

In the wake of the Hobby Lobby verdict, which rested heavily on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, it becomes increasingly important to question the direction that the Supreme Court of the United States of America has taken in terms of granting Human Rights to Corporations. Corporations have existed in legal terms with a sort of mysterious "personhood" since their inception. It was a

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-65663542266671451332014-04-01T19:07:00.002-07:002014-04-01T19:08:34.495-07:00

You may have noticed that this blog is not updated on a regular basis. Part of the reason for this is that we are trying other social networking venues as well. Each platform is suited to particular forms of discussion and trying to keep them all interlinked can be tedious. However, our efforts are currently on our Facebook presence. This forum will remain open for original content, though

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-74774901325804160542013-12-05T11:54:00.001-08:002013-12-05T11:58:06.446-08:00

It is obvious to many, if not most people that there are serious flaws in our educational system. Different countries have taken various approaches toward guiding students into becoming the sorts of citizens that each country's officials desire to create. In some instances, that may mean schools and policies that put religion front and center, or limit access to education for certain demographics

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-46288559625070343302013-10-17T13:06:00.001-07:002013-10-17T13:11:13.541-07:00

Things have been pretty quiet here at the Third Party lately. But eyes have been on Washington and the general "Business As Usual" choices being made by those in office. Observing the descent into this recent government shutdown and the distractions thrown at the media in order to keep us all guessing has been very frustrating. So I am going to clear a little of this up right here and now, and

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-14044867432257982362012-10-03T13:02:00.003-07:002012-10-03T13:03:03.708-07:00

Just for fun, here is a look back at August of 2000: http://web.archive.org/web/20000816061446/http://www.3rdparty.org/bbs/ A lot of the issues were the same 12 years ago. Some topics are perhaps even hotter now, and not surprisingly so. With tonight kicking off the debate season, it will be interesting to see how Romney and Obama address these old issues (or skirt around them).

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-17022360748195964302012-08-13T11:54:00.003-07:002012-08-13T11:55:32.948-07:00

When Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate for the 2012 election, presumable to push fiscal issues to the forefront of the discussion, it was a move that cements the objective of the Republican Party as narrowing its interests to serve the wealthiest Americans and big corporations rather than the broad umbrella that the party had previously been trying to claim. By choosing a VP who's

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-21128777737968622482012-07-19T12:42:00.000-07:002012-07-19T12:42:45.713-07:00

I was just reading an old interview with co-founder Kevin Makice that was part of the Media Giraffe Project. It reminded me of why we had gotten this beast off the ground in the first place: to change the way that people talk about politics. Kevin had it spot on. We have to get away from labels; defining people before we know who they are or why they believe what they believe will only limit our

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-31246193953291669142012-06-04T10:23:00.001-07:002013-10-17T13:11:36.669-07:00

A Political Essay by Jeffrey E. Poehlmann Originally published by 3rdparty.org on February 25, 2001 [Note: the President referred to in this essay is G. W. Bush, whose administration had been actively working to direct funds to religiously affiliated organizations and away from secular organizations that had been providing similar services.] "Religion and government will both exist in

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-14149656381171824272012-06-04T10:14:00.000-07:002013-10-17T13:12:00.912-07:00

A Political Essay by Jeffrey E. Poehlmann Originally published by 3rdparty.org on March 31, 1999 [Note: the fact that this essay is over a decade old and the issue is still so current speaks volumes about the lack of positive change afforded by a Congress more interested in its internal interests than those of the society it is meant to serve. The abject failure of "No Child Left Behind"

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-63052708256702923162012-06-04T10:08:00.001-07:002013-10-17T13:12:16.764-07:00

A Political Essay by Jeffrey E. Poehlmann Originally published by 3rdparty.org on January 1, 1999 A recent convening of "conservatives" in the Phoenix dessert on what many are calling an annual examination of their identity has left me asking myself an old question: Why do we label our politicians, ourselves, as conservative or liberal rather than humanitarian? Is not the purpose of

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-42904642737415032812012-06-04T10:05:00.000-07:002013-10-17T13:12:31.451-07:00

A Political Essay by Jeffrey E. Poehlmann Originally published on 3rdparty.org on December 15, 1998 The controversy over Presidential campaign financing has officially resurfaced. A recent New York Times article(November 29, 1998) predicts candidates will have to raise at least $22 million -- approximately $50,000 per day -- over the next two years. Author Jill Abramson goes on to

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-64496661162609949852012-05-10T20:15:00.001-07:002013-10-17T13:12:48.232-07:00

Since President Obama publicly defined his stance on same-sex marriage and Mitt Romney took the opportunity to immediately reinforce his opposing position, I thought it might be prudent to re-publish an essay written back in 2004 for 3rdparty.org. Here it is, without any updating, so please forgive any dead links, etc. The essay can also be viewed in the "Essay" section of the site in the Minerva

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648067479322462181.post-80819023608737470372012-05-09T10:37:00.000-07:002012-05-09T10:37:30.860-07:00

Welcome to the new home of The Third Party of America / 3rdparty.org's blog. This is the place where we open up discussion of issues that used to populate our forums and collaborators will have the opportunity to raise their voices again. That's YOU, Citizens of the United States of America! Log yourselves in and get started! To begin, some of the topics that have been locked away in our

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858102744711806386noreply@blogger.com