Darcy Richardson was selected as the 2020 running-mate for Alliance Party nominee Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente. Richardson has a long history with third parties, both as a candidate and political historian. He is the author of A Nation Divided: The 1968 Presidential Campaign (2002) as well as several works on the history of third parties in US politics. I must say I have consulted his research several times this year in the course of constructing this blog.
Richardson's fascinating career has included working with Eugene McCarthy during the former US Senator's final two runs for the Presidency in 1988 and 1992. Darcy was the National Chair of The New Democrats during that same time period. He has been a consistent champion and activist for challenging the Republican/Democratic duopoly. In 2018 he was the Reform Party's nominee for Governor of Florida.
Darcy's blog, Uncovered Politics, is another go-to place for third party and even mainstream coverage. I've consulted his "Time Capsule" section there several times http://www.uncoveredpolitics.com/
The Alliance Party is still fairly new but has a foundation and network from older political parties that have merged. Check out their webpage at: https://www.theallianceparty.com/
[Note: The interview questions were originally posed on May 6, 2020. That was a lifetime ago but rather than start over I am going to proceed because in a weird way it is more interesting by accident]
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Q: Darcy, you and I are almost exactly the same age. I have long regarded the assassination of JFK on Nov. 22, 1963 and the resignation of Nixon on Aug. 9, 1974 to be dramatic event bookends of an unusually volatile era. It is also the range of time where we both politically came of age. How did life in 1963-1974 shape your current world view?
I was only seven years old the day JFK was murdered in Dallas, but I vividly remember watching our black-and-white television set that entire dark and dreary weekend. My parents were distraught. It all seemed so unreal, but --- as you mentioned --- the period from Kennedy's assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, to Richard M. Nixon's resignation during the Watergate scandal in Aug. 1974 had a profound impact on many in our generation. The country lost its innocence during that tragic and tumultuous period, which included the unjust and immoral War in Vietnam, and has never really recovered. Up 'til then, most Americans respected, if not revered, the presidency, regardless of which party occupied the Oval Office. That's clearly no longer the case today,.
Q: Your association with former Sen. Eugene McCarthy began when you met him during his independent campaign for President in 1976. I count no less than 28 people who were identified as his running-mates that year, almost all considered stand-ins state by state. That just might be a record. He had a very low regard for the second position on a ticket, quoted in the '76 campaign as saying, "Vice-presidential candidates just clutter up the campaign. We should not ask the country to make two judgments. Everyone knows vice presidents have no influence on presidents once elected. Presidents' wives have much more influence. Perhaps we should have candidates' wives debate." Now that you are a VP nominee yourself, would you care to comment on McCarthy's statement?
Gene was right. That's one of the reasons I've consciously played such a low-key role in Rocky De La Fuente's campaign. It's Rocky's campaign.
Of course, McCarthy was separated from his wife, Abigail, when he made that crack about President's wives having more influence than the Vice President. I'm not sure who would have had the most influence on Gene himself if he had been elected as an independent in the year of America's Bicentennial since he had also joked during that campaign that he'd probably have a different First Lady every week. I miss him.
Q: McCarthy shocked the political world when he endorsed Reagan in 1980. When you later worked for Sen. McCarthy in 1988 and 1992, did that 1980 decision prove to be a campaign liability?
The Reagan endorsement came up a few times in 1988 when I was managing Gene's quixotic third-party bid for the White House on the Philadelphia-based Consumer Party ticket, but it was felt most profoundly when McCarthy, mounting an improbable political comeback, sought his old Senate seat from Minnesota six years earlier, in 1982. Former Vice President Fritz Mondale's folks brought it up time and again during that year's DFL primary --- a race in which Gene was outspent by a nearly 100-1 margin. They were relentless and unforgiving, still blaming McCarthy for Hubert Humphrey's narrow loss to Richard Nixon some fourteen years earlier. They never forgave McCarthy, who had risked his own political career by courageously opposing LBJ and the Vietnam War during the 1968 Democratic primaries, for his belated and tepid endorsement of Humphrey, his former friend and Senate colleague, on the eve of that election. Unlike McCarthy, Humphrey lusted after the presidency and was even willing to sell his soul by supporting Johnson's illegal war in Vietnam in pursuit of the elusive brass ring.
Q: You have been connected with a variety of political parties over the decades: the Democratic Party, Citizens Party, Consumer Party, Boston Tea Party, Reform Party, Peace and Freedom Party, just plain independent, perhaps others and now the Alliance Party. From what I can ascertain it seems like you have been pretty consistent with your progressive views through all this. Why the political party musical chairs?
My support for the above-mentioned parties --- and a few not listed here --- reflect my commitment to the idea of open politics in this country. While the Consumer Party will always hold a special place in my heart, I haven't really been excited about a new party until now with the emergence of the centrist-oriented Alliance Party. If we're ever going to end the hyper-partisanship and extreme polarization that's literally destroying this country and its institutions, it will have to come from an entirely new entity such as the Alliance Party.
Q: And speaking of multiple political parties, it appears the Alliance Party is just that, an alliance of numerous third parties. Can you give us the elevator speech on what the Alliance Party is all about?
The Alliance Party is the most promising new party movement to emerge in this country in decades, perhaps in my lifetime. One and all, they’re a pretty impressive group and they certainly have the country’s best interests at heart.
Led by national chairman Jim Rex, a former college president and the last Democrat to win a statewide office in South Carolina when he was elected State Superintendent of Education in 2006, the Alliance Party is committed to restoring civility in American politics and governance.
The party's Manifesto should be required reading for every American who intends to cast a ballot in this year's presidential election.
Q: You and Alliance Party Presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente have considerable experience running for public office and you have also been in the role of campaign manager in the past as well. What challenges and opportunities are there that distinguish the 2020 election season compared to past campaigns?
Well, first and foremost, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything, making in-person campaigning extremely difficult and dangerous and petition drives virtually impossible. Rocky and I initially hoped to qualify for the ballot in 35-40 states, but ended up qualifying in fewer than half that number.
Given that this election is rightfully a referendum on the reckless megalomaniac in the White House --- if he's still with us on Nov. 3rd, of course --- this is probably going to be a very lean year for America's nationally-organized third parties. I don't think anyone, not even the anti-government Libertarian candidate, who is on the ballot in all fifty states and the District of Columbia, will come close to cracking one percent of the vote nationally.
Hell, Steve, to be perfectly honest, I've seriously considered voting for Biden myself...this nation probably won't survive four more years of Trump. I mean, he's already responsible for 210,000 deaths --- and counting.
As a nation, we deserve better than a self-obsessed narcissist who is willing to callously sacrifice American lives for his own re-election. That's precisely what's happening.
Q: In terms of ballot access, where are you hoping the Rocky/Darcy ticket will appear in print, as well as being placed as certified write-ins? Looks like the Alliance Party might also have several other candidates for state and local offices?
Rocky and I are on the ballot in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vermont. We also hope to be official write-in candidates in a couple of dozen states.
Rocky is also on the ballot in populous California where --- much to my chagrin --- he's paired with unhinged, pro-Trump rapper Kanye West on the American Independent Party ticket, a remnant of segregationist George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign.
Q: How would you characterize the demographics of the Alliance Party? Who are the members and where are they coming from?
The party is arguably best organized in South Carolina and Minnesota. I think the Alliance Party membership reflects the changing nation at-large. We're thrilled , for instance, to have nominated a first-generation Mexican-American candidate for the presidency. We're a nation divided and most members --- at least those in leadership positions within the party--- are ex-Democrats or former Republicans who grew sick and tired of the dysfunction in Washington and believe that we can do a better, much better, job in bringing this country together.
Let's face it, we're facing twin crises --- a deadly health pandemic and a deepening economic recession that's threatening to become a full-blown depression --- and nothing is being done to alleviate the widespread suffering in our land. Nothing is being accomplished. Millions of our fellow citizens have lost their jobs during this pandemic and are on the verge of being evicted from their apartments or losing their homes to foreclosure and neither party is acting with any sense of urgency.
For starters, where is the promised second stimulus? That's something every voter should ask themselves when casting their ballots between now and Election Day.
Q: What is going on with the Reform Party these days? I see you dropped the idea of pursuing their Presidential nomination.
While I have many friends in the Reform Party and was enormously proud to be the party's standard-bearer in Florida's hotly-contested 2018 gubernatorial campaign, I'm hoping the party, which admittedly has seen better days, will consider formally merging with the Alliance Party following the current campaign.
Q: Two part question--
1. Do you favor any sort of alternative voting methods of selecting people for public office such as approval voting, range voting, ranked choice voting, or sortition?
I'm a strong proponent of Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV), or what used to be called Instant Runoff Voting. I advocated Instant Runoff Voting while briefly running for Supervisor of Elections in Duval County in a 2005 special election and Rocky and I will be among five choices on the ballot in Maine, which is instituting Ranked Choice Voting in a presidential election for the first time in American history. It's time has come.
2. Also, would you favor having the office of Vice-President be offered on the ballot as an individual position not tied to a ticket, so we could maybe vote for a President and Vice-President from two different parties?
You mean, I could vote for Joe Biden and myself? Hmmm.
Q: In the last three years we have seen a spike in activity of Americans denying their own humanity and rejecting the whole concept of civility, tolerance, and respect as they insult, bash, and deflect blame on others in order to elevate themselves. We see this on Twitter, Facebook, and the highest levels of government. How did we get here and how can we turn that around?
Donald Trump. Plain and simple. We're so polarized at this point, I'm not sure we can turn it around anytime soon. Even if he loses, perhaps especially if he loses, Trump will continue to be a divisive and mean-spirited force in this country for the foreseeable future.
Q: Many thanks for taking part in this project. If you'd like to address any issues my questions did not cover, please feel to add your thoughts here--
Thank you, Steve. It was my pleasure.
In closing, here are the folks I've supported at the ballot box for Vice President during my lifetime: Sally Wheaton (Eugene McCarthy, 1976); Patrick Lucey (John Anderson, 1980); Geraldine Ferraro (Walter Mondale, 1984); Florence Rice (Eugene McCarthy, 1988); James Stockdale (Ross Perot, 1992); Jo Jorgenson (Harry Browne, 1996); Winona LaDuke (Ralph Nader, 2000); Mary Alice Herbert (Walt Brown, 2004); Thomas Knapp (Charles Jay, 2008); Cindy Sheehan (Roseanne Barr, 2012); Michael Steinberg (Rocky De La Fuente, 2016).
Many of those names, of course, are as obscure as my own. Thanks again, Steve.