Encounter #7 — Third Parties, Reconstituting the United States, and Political Vision The B******t Artists

In this episode, Rory starts by sharing with Jack that he has submitted a self-nomination to the Movement for a People’s Party, an emergent third party that is currently soliciting its first crop of candidates for the 2022 midterm elections. This initiates a conversation about the viability of third parties in the American political system, including a historical digression about how the party system last changed in the United States—a development in which Jack’s great-great-uncle, John Jordan Crittenden, the prominent politician from Kentucky, may have played some small role. From there, the conversation turns to the topic of reconstitution: why the current Constitution is deeply flawed, how it could be replaced by existing political mechanisms, and why this approach may be the last, best chance for thwarting America’s rapidly accelerating descent into neofascism. Finally, the duo circle back to the topic of third parties; they discuss the need for critical critique of the current system to be wedded with a positive vision for a future one, and Rory elaborates on how he thinks that something like the People’s Party could fill that two-pronged role in this ongoing moment of socioeconomic upheaval and protracted political crisis.