The Optimistic American - Audio Edition: Does America Need a 3rd Party Candidate for President in 2024? With No Labels Founder, Sen. Joe Lieberman

Does America Need a 3rd Party Candidate for President in 2024? With No Labels Founder, Sen. Joe Lieberman

Aug 9, 2023

Paul Johnson welcomes U.S. Senator and No Labels Founding Chairman Joe Lieberman to discuss how No Labels plans to revolutionize American politics by empowering the actual majority.

The two discuss how Lieberman almost became Vice President for candidate John McCain, their opinion on how many of today’s leaders operate, how U.S. politics and the public seem to be going in different directions, and what No Labels should do to get the amount of delegates that are necessary to actually become president.

Today’s episode revolves around one of the most controversial topics of today: No Labels’ attempt to put their party on the ballot and potentially nominate an independent candidate for president.
Senator Joe Lieberman shares the story of how he, as an independent candidate, was both a Democratic nominee for vice president and almost became vice president under a Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.
Paul and Senator Lieberman discuss their belief that U.S. politics is a lot more divisive than the public is, and why they believe that’s the case.
Both Paul and Sen. Lieberman believe that promoting the divisions is a very profitable model for the political parties and the nightly news. Politicians respond to that by being even more divisive.
Senator Lieberman shares an interesting stat: “49% of the American people describe themselves politically as Independents." He sees that as a reaction to the Republican and the Democratic parties.
Paul points out that less than 10% of the public vote in partisan primaries and, because of gerrymandering, out of 500,000 elected offices, 70% are decided with no real opposition in the general election, leaving most voters cut out of the process of electing their officials.
As a result, Senator Joe Lieberman says that too many leaders are playing to the narrow base of people who vote in the primary and using fear to exploit the insecurity around various problems. Everything is existential, and we use alarmism on every issue.This exploitation is dividing the country.
Paul touches upon what led him to become an Independent, and how, as an Independent, it became much easier to see the excesses of both parties. He points out that both parties see themselves as entitled to being only one of two choices to the American people, and they see No Labels as a spoiler, meaning they don’t believe other choices should be available.
Senator Lieberman illustrates some of the challenges of the current dual-opposing-parties political system, that No Labels aims to not only give people choices, but to try and allow for a more optimistic view of America than exists within the two parties today.
Fun fact: the last successful third ticket at the presidential level was none other than Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
According to Lieberman, even though a third party candidate for president has not been elected since Lincoln, third party candidates, if they've been credible, can really make a difference on policy. Teddy Roosevelt made both parties focus on conservation and rights for workers. Ross Perot campaigned around a balanced budget that resulted in Bill Clinton focusing on the first balanced budget in decades.
Paul and No Labels Founding Chairman Joe Lieberman talk about what would be necessary for No Labels to be able to get the amount of delegates that are necessary to actually become president.