Our View: Third parties should be the future

It seemed more like a country music concert than a serious political

event.

Before Bush stepped out, the speakers blared Toby Keith’s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” Bush remarked that it’s good to be in a place where “cowboy hats outnumber ties.”

Political specifics weren’t discussed – only the fact that Marilyn

Musgrave stands for family values, supports the troops, has good

old-fashioned common sense and knows just what the farmers and

ranchers of the eastern plains are thinking.

How, exactly, she demonstrates these qualities wasn’t really

mentioned. And it wasn’t just with Musgrave. For the other politicians there, it was the same.

Democrats haven’t been much better. There is truth to Republicans’

accusations that most Democrats are taking the “Well, look what the

other guy did wrong” angle to this election.

We hope that we aren’t alone in being pretty sick of our two-party

system and its cynical cycle.

Take 4th Congressional District Reform Party candidate Eric Eidsness, for instance.

We at the Collegian were the only newspaper editorial board in Northern Colorado who chose not to endorse him. We chose Fort Collins Democrat Angie Paccione.

Eidsness, however, has been the only candidate to focus on the actual issues without spending ridiculous sums of money on negative campaign ads.

In retrospect, we wonder if endorsing Paccione was the right choice – even though it is the realistic one.

And that’s the saddest point of them all.

Third party candidates don’t stand a chance, despite the fact that

their platforms represent real change and the possibility for better

government.

We hope the future sees voters inspired by ideas to cast their

ballots, rather than (D) or (R).