In today's Daily Sentinel column I wrote about the pitfalls of starting a third-party political group and while I took a mainly cautionary and warning approach it's not that I don't appreciate and understand the feelings of many who are frustrated by their inability to move the major parties in a direction they think is consistent with what is best for the nation. In my experience, it seems that it is still very possible to form internal working groups or caucuses within functioning political parties to establish platform positions and support candidates that will move that party in a direction that is supported by a well-organized group.
I also understand that there is a certain degree of frustration when one feels that they are frozen out from the levers of power in the party structure since both parties have a tendency to adopt somewhat timid positions, especially if they have been successful in the past and are essentially afraid to change.
Nevertheless, I would suggest that it takes less energy to organize a group of like-minded individuals within a party to act as an internal political action committee, to recruit new members into the party and convince existing members to join. The heart of the matter is that any group must be able to distill down to its rudimentary facts the reason that they believe their political position is the correct one and it is probably no more difficult to try and convince people within an existing party who may be at least partially in agreement to move your direction, than it is to go through the myriad issues that will arise in forming a new political party and fielding candidates on the ballot.
Like it or not, the government's role in regulating elections, contributions and party participation at certain levels has risen to such a degree that just sorting through that piece of the puzzle can drain the enthusiasm of new party hopefuls. My point is that one should try every option to convert a significant portion of the existing political party to one's way of thinking so as to move leadership in that direction or replace them if the idea is strong enough to carry the day.
This is not to say that under certain unique circumstances there can be no choice other than to go one's own way. My point being that it is difficult to be successful and is a challenging road if not navigated properly and can cause one to end up helping the candidate or position of the party which one is in the least agreement by draining support from the party they are in at least partial agreement.
