New Party time.

• Author: Cantor, Daniel
• Position: New progressive political party - Cover Story

Over the last three years, I've had thousands of conversations with people about the idea of building a new political party in the United States. Many of these conversations have been with the leadership of existing organizations: labor unions, environmental groups, low-income community organizations, pro-choice networks, school-reform coalitions, and more. And I've spoken and corresponded with countless individual activists, writers, farmers, donors, teachers, programmers, cab drivers, Perotistas, doctors, artists, social Christians, Quakers, the unemployed, the underemployed, workaholics, alcoholics, young feminists, old leftists, and nearly every member of both sides of my family.

Not one has disputed the premise of the conversation. Not one has said, "No, you're wrong. America doesn't need a new party." What they have usually said is, "You're right, but it just can't be done."

The reasons why "it can't be done" are varied, but certain themes emerge: It's too time-consuming; it's too expensive; it's utopian; the racial divide is too immense; Americans are too stupid; it's too late.

But November 8 shook up conventional thinking in lots of ways, including the views toward third-party efforts. Since Black Tuesday, the phones at various New Party offices have rung more frequently, and the general comment we're now hearing is: "If this is what we get with a centerright Democratic strategy, maybe it's time to take the idea of a third party more seriously."

Of course, there's nothing new about the idea of a new party. The question to ask is not whether it's needed, but can a class-based, multiracial party really be built? Is the crisis in our society so profound that a stable new political party could emerge? And does the New Party (or anyone else, since we're not the only ones trying) have a strategy to get past the usual obstacles to third parties?

A massive Times-Mirror poll just before the election found 53 percent of the people in favor of a new, major third party. Some of that is right-wing, some of it is left, and most of it is probably just confused. Regardless, on the numbers alone, a new independent political formation has a potentially huge base. This is quite different from the past, and should not be underestimated. Both major parties have lost credibility, and nowhere is it preordained that populist anger must go in a sour, right-wing direction. It could just as easily bend toward Jim Hightower as Rush Limbaugh, if Hightower's...