Main Street Votes In Favor Of A New Party

Main Street may be in the mood for another political revolution, this one led by a third party.

Seven out of 10 merchants on Main Street in downtown Spokane say it may take a new party to bridge the economic and cultural rifts that are tearing the nation apart.

Not that the small business operators have great confidence in billionaire Ross Perot, the off-again on-again independent campaigner for president three years ago who is spearheading formation of a new party this time around.

They’re just sick to death of contributing to the epidemic dependency of an all-too-often violent minority that scorns all social or cultural constraints.

My admittedly unscientific sample took the pulse of business operators at 10 establishments in a row, all in one block on Main Street in downtown Spokane. A majority endorsed the concept of a third major party that would not be subservient to Perot but return power to the people.

In essence, they agreed that excessive pandering by the two major political party to interest groups and extremists left and right has disenfranchised moderates who make up the middle America mainstream.

Every business person I queried on the issue of a third party had an answer, though not everyone had a lot to say.

None was more succinct than Heidi Kirschner. “Competition is good,” said the Lotions & Potions manager. “We have a liberal party. We have a conservative party. A lot of us don’t like either label. Maybe we need a party for us.”

Not for Lisa Sanders. Said the apparel shop manager, “In just the two parties now, we already have liberal conservatives and conservative liberals. A third party would only confuse things more.”

More than one business operator apologized for working too much to be “up on politics.” A restaurant manager said he often works seven days a week.

Some were too politically correct to take a strong position. A number didn’t want their names or places of business publicized, for fear of a customer backlash.

But others jumped at a chance to express their views in no uncertain terms.

“We’re at a crossroads in American culture,” said Cheryl Lyons. “Our country is in serious trouble right now.

“And society is fast running out of time to make a major change of course,” warned the manager of The Apple Shop. “In the past, when Americans thought of war, it was with other countries. But I believe that if we have a war anytime soon, it will be within our own country.

“It’s like we have been on a 30-year binge during which we have created a very dependent society,” she said.

“And we, the co-dependents, are raising a bunch of self-declared victims. The more they scream victimization, the more some among us say, ‘Let’s rescue them.’

“Instead, for this country to get over denial and get into recovery, we need to be saying, ‘Let’s make everybody accountable.’

“Let’s require those we help to put forth an effort to make their own lives better.”

The single mother of four has been there, shouldered a heavy load herself to raise the family. “I am a compassionate person,” she says. “I believe in helping others.

“But we’ve gotten to the point where those of us who do work for what we have, don’t get to have it. The government takes it from us to rescue every other person except us, every other country except us. Business people are just fed up with it.”

Sounds familiar enough.

But Lyon is different. A “registered Republican” and “fiscal conservative,” she crossed over to coordinate the campaign of a Democrat last fall. She liked the other candidate’s more humanistic approach to addressing crime-related social problems in the community better than the hard-line answers of her own party’s candidate.

And Lyon thinks she is representative. “I was in outside sales a long time,” the shop manager says. “And what I found is your average American is thinking like I am right now.

“I really feel we are at that time in the life cycle of our country when someone out there is finally going to step up and lead people back on the right path. And this time, if there are enough people who will step up, too, and say, ‘I want to help,’ then we’re not going to have a war in the streets.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel’s column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review