Third Political Party Sought

By Izzy Lyman
October 2001

A cadre of citizens gathered at a Framingham restaurant last month to discuss strategies for establishing a conservative third party presence in the Bay State.

They were voicing concerns about the Mass Republican Party – a party that family values activists feel has grown increasingly enamored with the pro-gay rights, pro-choice, and anti-American worker agenda. The group of twenty people are affiliated with the Reform Party and the Constitution Party.

“Many of us see little hope for the conservative movement until voters get educated,” said Jon Hill, the Massachusetts Reform Party chairman.

Tom Hamill, the Massachusetts Constitution Party chairman, complained that “Democrats and Republicans are absconding with your [voters’] money, and voters are brainwashed by the liberal media.” He added that patriotic Americans have an obligation to “turn the tide of the socialistic, hedonistic society we live in.”

Bob Regan of Leominster, who worked for Pat Buchanan’s 2000 presidential campaign when he ran on the Reform Party ticket, lamented that tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs have left the Bay State. “They are gone for our lifetime,” noted Regan, “and unemployment is being caused by [the push for] globalism.”

The group talked about beginning a non-profit educational foundation or orchestrating a media blitz to explain to the public how American sovereignty and self-sufficiency is being compromised through unfair trade agreements, the rise of multinational corporations, and a confiscatory tax structure.

When the idea was floated of encouraging third-party candidates to run for state and local offices, Bill Higgins, a disabled and retired resident of Northborough, offered to travel anywhere in the state to campaign for such a candidate. This group of citizens is gung-ho about taking on the political establishment, both in the Bay State and at the national level, because as one attendee put it, “We have only one political party now. The Republicrats.” See www.massreformparty.org or www.constitutionparty.com.