UNION PARTY POSTER, 1864
Howard Schultz is an impressive guy. He is not going to be elected President.
What else can he do with his talents and money?
Howard should bring back the Union Party
The usual problem with American third parties has been that they can never govern. The Constitution was intentionally written for a one party system. Hamilton, Adams and Washington were firmly opposed to what thyey called “factions.” As a result we have an unwritten constitution that mandates two parties. Under that Constitution, states fund PARTY elections and both state legislatures and the Congress have rules that assume two parties.
Today Trump loyalty means more than whatever else defines the GOP.
There is another choice. Return to 1864 when the GOP was itself two parties. Instead of running for President, If I were Howard Schultz, I would take my talent and money and use the name that was used by dissident Republicans during Reconstruction .. the UNION party. The Union party represented the moderate wing of the GOP> Lincoln ran in 1864 on the Union ticket!
So, Howard, with support from other like minded “people of means,” I would suggest you go to likely Republicans (mainly) and offer to TOTALLY fund their election IF they would declare membership in the Union party instead of the GOP.
All Schultz would need to do is elect 10 Unionists. I suspect he would get a number of independents to also choose to work with the Union caucus. These Unionistas would have the controlling vote in the Senate and control the kind of extremism that Trump has promoted.
Actually Hamilton, Adams, and Washington favored a no party system. Neither written or unwritten constitutions assume or favor a two party system. As states entered into the United States many tended to adopt a winner take all Presidential election and assigned electors accordingly. Senators were elected by state legislatures and states tended to have a mix of parties and favorite sons. The 1864 Union Party is not as you describe. It certainly had little to do with labor as your photo represents. And has more in common with the Union party of 1936 and Father Coughlin and Huey Long.
Thus far Howard Schultz has not shown interest in working on setting up any sort of party apparatus beyond a possible independent run. If he were to concentrate on a few states and takes one perhaps Washington and the other candidates split and the election goes to the house he could come out the dark horse winner. Demonstrating that for President it is not set up as a strictly two party system.
Yes but .. Jefferson’s creation of the Rep/Dem party chnged all that and id it very early. Since then at federal and state levels laws and rule have been written that institutionalize the two parties.
So here’s the thing.
I don’t want to dash anyone’s hopes or enthusiasm. But the law is the law. And whatever complicated schemes a billionaire might cook up, at this late stage they would still have work within the existing framework of laws. That perspective seems to be missing here. So please allow me to illuminate by expanding on what u/theaveeditor posted.
Of course, as you know, you and I and every other registered voter do not vote directly for Presidential candidates (actually candidate tickets). We vote for state electors. And in 48 of the 50 states, according to the various laws adapted in those states, those state electors are awarded in a winner-take-all contest (Nebraska and Maine award electors in a congressional district method – amounting to 5 out of 538). Thus, if a state has ten electoral votes to award, whichever one of the various candidates wins the most votes is awarded all of those electoral votes. Essentially, and disregarding those 5 in ME and NE, in order to win even a single electoral vote a candidate must win an entire state.
So the challenge for any candidate is to assemble the needed 270 on a state by state basis. The existing major parties owing to a 100 year head start, along with strong brand and organizational presence start the contest with 190 to 200 of those electoral votes safely in the bag. Thus, a substantially greater challenge for a third party candidate interested in something more than free television exposure and an ego boost. As a point of perspective Ross Perot did not win one single electoral vote. Nor I’m afraid will Howard Schultz.
Wanna shake things up? Go to your state legislature and get those winner take all laws changed. For what Howard Schultz spends in one year on shoes you could put a full time lobbyist in your state capital.
You’re afraid because Howard Schultz won’t win any electoral votes? The rest of us will celebrate.