3rd Parties All But Inactive

With Congressman Ron Paul trying to effect change from within the GOP (and getting soundly rejected by a party leadership that seems ready to wither away a vast grassroots center-right movement), the lesser known parties seem largely silent of late. The Libertarian Party is trumpeting the Tea Party gathering in Washington D.C. The Green Party is trying to woo former green jobs "czar" Van Jones and his "America carried out 9-11 on itself" conspiracy theories. The Communist Party is hooked on ObamaCare. I'm surprised there is no response to Obama answering Joe Wilson's cry by instituting an amendment that adds a citizenship status test onto the HR3200 package. I suppose there is a presumption that such an item will be surreptitiously deleted in conference committee should bills get that far.

With Harry Reid trying the same "We'll pass it no matter what the American people want!" battle cry that failed for Nelson Rockefeller before the GOP sweep of 1994, and with Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats paying more attention to Joe Wilson's politeness than to his correctness, this would seem a terrific time for parties on the Left *and* on the right to enter into the debate, even if in small ways. But, frankly, the debate seems entrenched among the two major parties.

Too bad. I think the leadership of BOTH those parties are largely in a fantasy world more attuned to political maneuverings than to any real interest in either the people *or* The Constitution. And it wouldn't surprise me if bean counters on both sides of the aisle are sweating buckets that anyone is actually paying attention to this.