Third Party

1992 feels like ancient history. With the recent “bad breakup,” memories of that year’s presidential election returned. Businessman Ross Perot received about 19% of the popular vote. That was the year Bill Clinton prevailed over incumbent George H.W. Bush.

The intelligent industrialist I was working for at the time predicted a Perot win. (We are highly influenced by our own subjective experience. That shapes the lens through which we see the world.)

Perot made another run in 1996. I remember the joke told by a comedian impressionist doing his portrayal of Perot: “Here’s my take on Bill Clinton and the deficit….Bill Clinton is like the man who has a rattle snake in his pants. Now he knows he has to shoot it. But he doesn’t want to hit anything important.”

Third party efforts face obstacles. Yet, these are unusual times and, this time, the idea initiator has less capacity for self regulation than the voluble Perot did. It won’t be boring, at least at the outset.