Creating that mythical third party would be a monumental task, beginning with the 'herding of the cats' - finding the necessary number of people to create a progressive coalition, and some degree of consensus to hold that coalition together. Only after that could you start on the equally difficult work of assembling the necessary expertise, building a platform and then raising the funds to disseminate your message. I don't think the current moneyed interests or media insiders are going to help you with those tasks. Then you hit an even bigger problem; without achieving total success you're most likely to merely split the left-ish vote and hand a number of districts to the Repugnants. Which, I presume, is not what you want.

Otherwise known as the Ron Paul campaign for president. There really needs to be a full documentary film done on why his campaign was never able to gain the kind of momentum it should have given the popularity of his message and the results of his fundraising. This is not making any kind of comment on Ron Paul the person, or his idiosyncrasies. Rather, what should be included in such an investigative documentary is the treatment his campaign received by the MSM. From not being given any resemblance of equal time or on-air access, the ways in which both state and federal election agencies worked to exclude him from debates, conventions, etc, and the pure lack of everyone in the election process to address the issues Paul himself kept bringing up time and again (which largely received a lot of eye-rolling from the media and other candidates, but which were important arguments to nearly all of his millions of followers).

Ron Paul's candidacy represented many of the views of millions upon millions of voters, and yet the 2 party system, in direct collusion with the MSM, effectively rendered it a mere sideshow, deriding it and injecting the "don't waste your vote on him" meme at every opportunity.

I think we all know what the results of that documentary would say. Given that, why do we even bother with the system as it currently sits? Why do we continue to put up with this shit? It is painfully clear, at least to me, that our Constitutional Republic is being choked out of existence. We can all sit here and endlessly join in the mental masturbation flavor of the day, but when examining the scope of the problem from all corners of our existence (economic, political, judicial), how much more evidence must their be before we decide as a people that fundamental, immediate change is necessary?

When does true regime change come to the US?

There should be someone who offers a class to kids who are considering enrolling in our armed forces that goes over cases like these, reviews how veterens have been treated by the gov't since WWII, shows graphs of suicide rates, homeless and unemployment rates of veterens, and shows interviews of soldiers who've been fucked by the gov't once they've served their country. Make this class required just after the kids leave the Army-sponsored video arcades they now use as recruiting tools that are designed to show them how much fun "killing and armying" can be....(see link at sig).

Our killing machine gov't at it's very finest.

Wouldn't it be interesting to get some enterprising reporter from Raw Story, HuffPo, et al, to show up unexpectedly in front of of one of these DEA or other drug admin muckity mucks and start drilling them with questions about their thoughts on this report? Might go something like this:

Intrepid Reporter (IR): Excuse me, Mr. US Drug Policy Wonk? Have you seen the latest reports showing how much drug decriminalization in Portugal has reduced drug use in that country?

Wonk: Umm, wha? Well, err, no I've not seen that report.

IR: Really? Because I'm surprised you haven't, given that it's a long-term study that's been well-covered and publicized in the drug policy spheres. You sure you haven't seen it?

Wonk: Well, uhh, we knew there were a number of studies being undertaken, but no definitive results have been published to this point.

IR: These are pretty darn definitive, Mr. Wonk. Care to comment on them?

Wonk: We're not going to comment on anything like that until we've had a chance to review the contents, methods, and results.

IR: I see. And exactly how long will that take and when can we expect you or your agency to comment on these results, which even most drug decriminalization skeptics find pretty darn definitive?

Wonk: We'll have to take a look at the results and then get back to you. I can't give you a specific date at this time. Such matters require careful review and investigation to corroborate their legitimacy.

IR: Uh huh. Given your position, Mr. Wonk, do you feel like your answers here today give confidence to the American Public that you're on top of this issue and are truly looking for solutions to America's drug problems, or does this make you look like you're not really out front on new solutions but rather continuing to feed and grow the industries which feed off drug criminalization, such as outsourced law enforcement, prison builders, etc?

Wonk: Excuse me?

IR: Did I stutter?

Wonk: This interview is over.

IR: Much like your outdated policies and ineffective leadership of US Drug policy. Well, take care, Mr. Wonk.

IR (talking to camera): As you can see, US leadership on drug policy has proven once again that it is either ignorant of new solutions and what is working as it relates to drug policy, or does not want to acknowledge these latest findings in an attempt to stave off true drug policy reform, and instead prop up ineffective solutions and industries all the while wasting billions upon billions of your tax dollars. This is Intrepid Reporter reporting for the Glenzilla Television Network.

We are living in a banana republic.