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Robert Roth's A Reason to Vote Makes a Storng Case for Third Parties
Two centuries ago, a group of daring people lived on the East Coast, defied the odds, and founded the United States. It was no small feat. Defying those same odds has put the new Natural Law Party (NLP) on the map of American politics. Robert Roth, the party's press secretary, tells the story of the founding of America's fastest growing political party in A Reason to Vote (St. Martin's Press, $23.95 hardcover), a non-fiction work that reads like a novel.
NLP presidential candidate John Hagelin has called the United States the "most undemocratic country in the world," and Roth shows us why. Third parties are required to obtain thousands of signatures that the Republicans and Democrats never have to get. The author notes some 19 countries around the world where all parties have the same ballot-access requirements. How, Roth asks, can the U.S. push and demand democratic reform in other countries yet deny access to third party and independent candidates in its own presidential debates?
Roth punctuates his points with the experiences of candidates denied access to national debates. What's most compelling about the book are the portraits of the ordinary people who are building this political party. The founding fathers, you'll remember, were ordinary men when they signed the Declaration of Independence.
In recounting the early history of the party, Roth covers how news about the party spreads through CSPAN, by word of mouth, and through press conferences. Roth shares this story from the campaign trail: At a Washington, D.C., press conference where five presidential candidates of third parties are present, three major American newspapers are absent. Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader shows comments, "In 1920, America's black leadership held a major news conference in Washington, D.C., to call attention to the unfair and discriminatory laws that blacks must overcome to participate in the political process. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal did not attend that conference. The parallels are striking between black participation in the political process then and the third party participation today."
The NLP postulates that alignment with natural law is the solution to administration and is also the solution which will prevent problems from arising in the first place. It's an inspiring message. The idea that government could be as scientific as biology or physics offers voters something to chew on besides shallow sound bites.
The facts presented here are likely to make you angry, yet what's being done about them is inspiring. This entertaining, history-making book reads swiftly as Roth weaves in facts, figures, and insouciant commentary with expert interviews that overturn the Band-Aid policies Washington normally churns out.
A Reason to Vote offers a truly fresh national vision. It's a siren for politically beleaguered Americans. It's a grassroots American success story of an underdog organization overcoming the odds against it by using the genius and creativity of the American people, providing strong leadership in Washington, and carving a niche for third party voices through cooperation. It's not the first time it's been done.
