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In theory, we choose politicians to make laws that we approve of. But our system hasn’t worked like that for a long time. Today, politicians draw districts, control who can run for office and block the creation of new political alternatives. Now they pick us — not the other way around.
That’s why a huge majority of Americans want to see a new, viable alternative to challenge the Republican and Democratic stranglehold on power, lawmaking and culture in our country. And when huge majorities of Americans have wanted something in the past, we’ve gotten it. That’s how our country is supposed to work.
The Democratic and Republican parties know exactly where it is — because they locked it up and (thought) they threw away the key.
In all 50 states, America’s two major parties — sometimes working together and other times working against each other — have made the process of creating a new political party expensive, mentally and physically exhausting, and impossible to achieve without an army of lobbyists and lawyers. And did we mention expensive?
Every state makes its own rules about running for office, and some of them are completely outrageous.
In North Carolina (which, by the way, isn’t even the worst) anyone seeking to form a new political party for the upcoming governor’s race must gather more than 70,000 signatures, from certain types of people, across multiple congressional districts. And if you don’t perform well enough in that election, you’ll have to repeat the process, forking over the cash all over again. Rinse, repeat, ka-ching.
And it’s not just North Carolina. In Georgia, it’s a whole stadium’s worth of signatures, and it costs more than most houses. And in Texas, voters who vote in primary elections can’t sign petitions to get independents on the ballot. Even worse, independent candidates can’t declare after the major party nominees have been decided. That’s right: Once you know who your options are, you can’t add a new option. Yup. The lesser of two evils. Again.
Dodging these landmines requires hundreds of hours, thousands of paid and volunteer workers, and dozens of lawyers. And if every last detail isn’t perfect, the state might fine you — sometimes as much as $100,000.
SAM is working around the clock and against the powers-that-be within the Republican and Democratic parties to break the monopoly they have on power. We’re committed to making sure we pick our politicians—and they stop picking us.
Obviously, changing a system that’s rigged in all 50 states is a massive fight, and creating a new political party is just one part of our solution. We can’t do it alone.
https://joinsam.org/our-party/what-is-sam
That’s why a huge majority of Americans want to see a new, viable alternative to challenge the Republican and Democratic stranglehold on power, lawmaking and culture in our country. And when huge majorities of Americans have wanted something in the past, we’ve gotten it. That’s how our country is supposed to work.
The Democratic and Republican parties know exactly where it is — because they locked it up and (thought) they threw away the key.
In all 50 states, America’s two major parties — sometimes working together and other times working against each other — have made the process of creating a new political party expensive, mentally and physically exhausting, and impossible to achieve without an army of lobbyists and lawyers. And did we mention expensive?
Every state makes its own rules about running for office, and some of them are completely outrageous.
In North Carolina (which, by the way, isn’t even the worst) anyone seeking to form a new political party for the upcoming governor’s race must gather more than 70,000 signatures, from certain types of people, across multiple congressional districts. And if you don’t perform well enough in that election, you’ll have to repeat the process, forking over the cash all over again. Rinse, repeat, ka-ching.
And it’s not just North Carolina. In Georgia, it’s a whole stadium’s worth of signatures, and it costs more than most houses. And in Texas, voters who vote in primary elections can’t sign petitions to get independents on the ballot. Even worse, independent candidates can’t declare after the major party nominees have been decided. That’s right: Once you know who your options are, you can’t add a new option. Yup. The lesser of two evils. Again.
Dodging these landmines requires hundreds of hours, thousands of paid and volunteer workers, and dozens of lawyers. And if every last detail isn’t perfect, the state might fine you — sometimes as much as $100,000.
SAM is working around the clock and against the powers-that-be within the Republican and Democratic parties to break the monopoly they have on power. We’re committed to making sure we pick our politicians—and they stop picking us.
Obviously, changing a system that’s rigged in all 50 states is a massive fight, and creating a new political party is just one part of our solution. We can’t do it alone.
https://joinsam.org/our-party/what-is-sam
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