THIRD PARTY POLITICS

A VOTE for a third party is a wasted vote. That is what I and many
other Americans have thought.

What I just learned from Robert Roth is that it is not easy being
Green, Libertarian, Tax Payer or Natural Law.

During an interview in Palo Alto, Roth, author of ``The Natural Law Party:
A Reason to Vote,'' (St. Martin's) revealed some surprising things about
the long history of third parties.

``Woman's vote was a Prohibition Party idea,'' he said, ``and it was
not until 1919 that Republicans and Democrats allowed that fringe idea.''

The Socialist party spoke out against child labor, he
said.

Republicans, he noted, were founded in 1854 before what he calls
third-party restrictions -- the modern ground rules for third parties
to qualify for the ballot. Abe Lincoln, who signed the Emancipation
Proclamation, was a third-party candidate.

Roth was a Democrat and a youthful Bobby Kennedy worker who soured on
politics while a student at the University of California-Berkeley.
When the Natural Law party formed in 1992 in Iowa, it reflected his
beliefs in preventive medicine, renewable energy and election reform.

The party platform also supported sustainable agriculture without
chemicals, crime prevention and rehabilitation programs, education
reform and lower taxes.

BUT working for the party, for which he is now a national spokesman,
gave him a rude awakening.

He experienced how difficult it was for any third party to grow amid a
two-party political monopoly. In addition, impossible requirements
kept them out of debates, and the national media all but ignored them.

Then there was the stigma.

Much of his life he'd felt scrutinized for practicing meditation, said
Roth, also the author of ``Transcendental Meditation'' (Penguin). But
being in a third party ``had a bigger stigma,'' he said.

Worse, he believes the ballot access system is a deliberate and
effective partisan effort to keep third parties out of the election
process.

Florida requires third-party candidates to obtain 250,000 signatures
to earn a place on the ballot, but requires no signatures for
Democrats and Republicans. To ensure enough valid signatures, 500,000
must be collected, he said.

``That is more than are needed for Europe, New Zealand, Australia and
Canada combined,'' said Roth. ``Zero third parties have been on the
ballot in Florida.''

California requires 150,000 signatures (therefore about 300,000 must
be collected), which must be turned in a year before the election.

``This isn't a way to test grass-roots support. It is a way to smash
and eliminate competition. By the time you do that, there is no money
left to get your message out.''

According to Roth, in all 50 states, a third party presidential
candidate needs 701,089 signatures -- 28 times the number a Democrat
needs and 13 times that for Republicans.

``People say that third parties are impotent and that nobody votes for
them and that nobody cares. But the people don't know why,'' he said.

Like many people, Roth is concerned that so far, 16.8 percent of
eligible Americans voted in the primaries. In 1994, only 19.6 percent
did.

It is his contention that if Americans were happy with the two-party
system, there wouldn't be such apathy. He sees the two major parties
as caving under the weight of corruption and stagnancy.

STILL, he has no illusion that the Natural Law Party or any other
third party could win in 1998.

That hope lies in the next generation. Along with appearances on the
major network shows, he speaks to students nationwide -- few of whom
identify with either major party.

Roth believes students propelled his book to No. 12 on the Amazon.com
best-seller list the week of Oct. 5. Ultimately, he says, ``People
have to stop voting for the lesser of two evils and vote for what they
believe in.''

In his opinion, a wasted vote is a knee-jerk vote for a Democrat or a
Republican because they are Democrat or Republican.

Write Loretta Green at the Mercury News, 310 University Ave., Palo
Alto, Calif. 94301; fax (650) 688-7555; e-mail (LGreen@sjmercury.com).

Checked-by: Patrick Henry