"Fusion Candidacy" and Joe

 

 

 

 

   

There’s been talk for years in independent and third-party circles about a “fusion candidacy” for president.  That is, these independents and third-party people would forgo some of their platform point differences and unite behind one candidate.

[*While, according to FEC regulations, the candidate couldn’t run on multiple party tickets, party members could, nonetheless, all informally coalesce to vote for this one candidate.]

What’s more, depending on who the candidate is, it’s conceivable that some people in the major parties could break ranks and support this candidate as well.

Frankly, short of this, there seems little, if no, hope of breaking the current strangle-hold of the Major Parties “duopoly” in America.

No hope.

Now, not to drop any names, but the candidate with the best chance at a successful “fusion candidacy,” of sorts, this time, in my opinion, would be, well: me.

Think about it.

Donald Trump won back in 2016 as a quote/unquote “outsider.”

Outsider?

For years, Trump, admittedly, played both sides of the political fence to gain maximum advantage for his businesses. He’s actually been a political “insider,” just in a slightly different sense.

On the other hand, I’m a true: “outsider.”

Not only have I never held a political office, but I’m simply running for president as a concerned Midwestern American parent who is all about making decisions that are right, not only for my kids, but everybody’s kids.

There’s been no big money in this.

There’s been no special interest backing.

Just some common sense – and an old camper that doubles as a campaign vehicle.

The Salina Journal in Kansas noted: “Joe Schriner is bypassing the political Parcheesi played by big name politicians.”

And I am.

After a talk I gave at Heidelberg College, Associate History Professor David Gerard Hogan went one better.  He said that my “…message is a refreshing change from the vague rhetoric and glossy corporate image displayed by our premier party candidates.”

Part of that authenticity is that my views have been developed, not in a high-brow political think tank, but on the road over 25 years and 250,000 cross-country research miles.

And those views?

Well, they don’t fit neatly into the cookie cutter platforms of either of the main parties.

Newspaper editor Steve Zender in Carey, Ohio, would write: “Schriner has an interesting mixture of conservative and liberal view-points.  That, in my opinion, makes him an ‘average Joe.’”

I mean, seriously, how many average Joe’s out there have political opinions that all fall in line with either the Democratic or Republican platform?

Not many.

And how many average Joe’s out there would just vote for another average Joe simply because, well, he’s an average Joe -- who is not entangled in all the, well, political Parcheesi.

Has that already been mentioned?

Anyway…

  --Joe

 

*Note: In all these years of campaigning, I have, indeed, had a good cross section of experiences with other parties, which would only enhance my favorability among these various parties…

I started out running in Campaign 2000 as a Republican. I had studied the party’s platform closely, and a good deal of what I was about, lined up with a lot of the platform, when it came to being pro-life, pro-family values, pro-fiscal responsibility… On the environment, I found myself more left than mainstream Republicans, but in South Bend, Indiana, I learned there was actually a faction within the party that was considered “Green Republicans.”

And speaking of “green”…

During Campaign 2008, a Christian faction of the Green Party asked me to vie for the party’s presidential nomination. The crux would be to run on a “Consistent Life Ethic” platform. I, in turn, studied the Green Party’s platform. It revolved around what the party referred to as “10 Key Values.” These included things like: social justice, community-based economics, decentralism, sustainability, respect for diversity, grassroots democracy, etc.

Our campaign was in line with many of these, but would conflict on abortion, gender fluidity, total non-violence. However, I thought at the time that the Green Party might consider expanding to a wider tent. I started to vie for the nomination at their National Convention in 2007, doing a debate, a general assembly talk, and so on. However, while I performed well and people resonated with much that we were about, the issues of abortion and gender fluidity, ultimately, torpedoed any hope of getting the nomination.

And I went back to running as an independent.

During these early campaigns, while not “officially endorsed,” some chapters of the Democrats for Life faction of the Democrat Party, put a link to our website on their sites. This was another group we were on much of the same page with.

Then, during Campaign 2012, we were approached by the newly formed Christian Democratic Party. They said my platform matched up quite closely with theirs, and they asked if they could “officially endorse” my campaign. I studied their platform, then said sure.

During Campaign 2016, the latter party changed its name to American Solidarity Party. And I was approached twice about vying for their presidential nomination during Campaigns 2020 and 2024. I did, but came in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

In between all these party experiences, I continued to run (and am continuing to run) as an independent.

The point to all this being, I have studied all these other party platforms, have crossed over in any number of ways, and would be the perfect “composite candidate,” who would represent at least some of each party’s agenda in a pseudo-fusion candidacy.

Links:

Joe as a (Radical) Republican Radical Republican Candidate (voteforjoe.com)

Joe as an independent candidate Independent Candidate (voteforjoe.com)

Joe as a Green Party candidate Green Party Candidate (voteforjoe.com)

Joe as an independent candidate, again Independent Again (voteforjoe.com)