Third Party Options for Whites

Most of the talk among conservatives the last few weeks has been about how Republicans can attract Hispanics. Now that even the likes of Sean Hannity and Rand Paul support amnesty, it seems Congress will give it a try.

As if on cue, Senators Lindsay Graham and Chuck Schumer announced that they were resuming their bipartisan discussions on a “pathway to citizenship.” Senator Graham says that Hispanics are “the fastest-growing demographic in the country and we’re losing votes every election cycle; it has to stop. It’s one thing to shoot yourself in the foot — just don’t reload the gun.”

Of course, by adding millions of instant Democrats to the voter rolls the GOP would be once again taking aim at its own foot.

George Will offers the startling insight that these lawbreakers and line jumpers are actually entrepreneurs just salivating at the chance to vote Republican:

Most voters already favor less punitive immigration policies than the ones angrily advocated by clenched-fist Republicans unwilling to acknowledge that immigrating — risking uncertainty for personal and family betterment — is an entrepreneurial act.

Guests on the Sunday talk shows almost universally agree that the Republicans lost because they pander to “angry white men.” It is an odd sort of pandering that promotes more legal immigration with a few throwaway lines about securing the border, and includes tacit support for “affirmative action.”

And it’s not just liberals who mock “white men.” Al Cardenas, the Hispanic head of the American Conservative Union complains that his party is “too old and too white and too male.”

With the GOP apparently tracking left, white voters are, more than ever, without a political home. If there was ever a moment for a third party it would seem to be now. Unfortunately, no third party now shows much promise.

For 20 years, the Constitution Party (CP) has tried to establish itself as a paleoconservative political force. If nothing else, it gave thousands of voters something to vote for in the last five elections. However it had its best performance with 199,880 votes back in 2008, when it was on the ballot in 37 states. This year, the party was on the ballot in only 26 states, and got only118,000 votes. Write-ins have yet to be included, but it seems the party will fall far short of its performance in the previous election.

This is particularly disappointing because this year’s CP candidate was former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode. In the past, the party focused mainly on abortion, but this year its main issue was immigration. Mr. Goode even called for reduced legal immigration.

Part of the problem was that the GOP spent lots of money to keep the CP off the ballot in key states such as Pennsylvania, because Republicans feared Mr. Goode would take votes from Mr. Romney. Another problem was internal bickering. The American Independence Party in California stopped being the Golden State’s CP affiliate in 2010, and that cost the party thousands of votes in the most populous state. The CP has certainly not offered enough of a threat to the GOP to stop its leftward drift on issues such as quotas and amnesty.

The Libertarian Party had its best showing ever, winning over a million votes for the first time. It managed to get on the ballot in 48 states, and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson earned over 3.5 percent of the vote in his home state. The GOP tried hard to keep the Libertarians off the ballot as well. Libertarians promote small government and free markets, which appeals to paleoconservatives, but their position on immigration is terrible.

Where could a viable third party option for whites come from?

The American Third Position (A3P) ran on an explicitly pro-white platform. A3P candidate Merlin Miller was on the ballot in three states and won 12,895 votes (with write-ins still to be added). This was A3P’s first national election, but the party will have to do a lot more if it is to become a home for disaffected white voters.

One possibility is the Tea Party movement. While it mostly focuses on economic and budget issues, the group is composed almost entirely of whites who are alarmed by the direction their nation has taken. The Republicans were happy to take their votes but now party elites such as strategist Steve Schmidt are blaming them for the GOP woes, and arguing that they must be muzzled.

Tea Partier Herman Cain has now hinted at a third-party run:

I never thought that I would say this, and this is the first time publicly that I’ve said it: We need a third party to save this country. Not Ron Paul and the Ron Paulites. No. We need a legitimate third party to challenge the current system that we have, because I don’t believe that the Republican Party — although I ran as a Republican, I have been voting Republican for decades — has the ability to rebrand itself against the mainstream media machine that blatantly works to support this president and other liberals, and works, blatantly, to tarnish the brand of what the Republican party stands for.

Mr. Cain is hardly the ideal candidate for alienated whites, but at least he is solid on immigration, and could give GOP leaders pause if he threatens to help organize a third party in response to another amnesty push.

Blogger Half Sigma argues that the GOP should give up on the abortion issue while fighting against amnesty. That is what I call the Pete Wilson strategy: speaking up for whites on the National Question, while ignoring or taking a libertarian stance on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Half Sigma predicts the GOP will do the opposite.

But could the Pete Wilson strategy become the basis for a third party? Unfortunately, I can think of no leader or politician of either party who is both pro-choice and sound on the National Question.

Still, there is a lot of dissatisfaction with Republicans and conservatives. Many whites are looking for someone to speak for them. Perhaps the Republicans’ suicidal push for amnesty will help spur a third party that stands up for white Americans for a change.

As for Republicans, they seem to be going the way of the Whigs.