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Elon Musk is, apparently, not done with politics!
Over the weekend, he announced his plans to form a third party.
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk said on X. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
Beyond that, Musk offered very few details of how he would build or fund the party. Or what the party, uh, believes in.
And, as of Sunday night, neither Musk nor anyone affiliated with him have filed the “America Party” with the Federal Election Commission, a necessary first step in creating a new party.
The only other indication Musk has given of how he might approach this new party is, again, via X:
Now, to be clear: This all may well be a lark by Musk. He may not really be dedicated to actually building a third party. But, for the sake of argument, let’s assume he is.
I still think he is going about it wrong — largely repeating the mistakes of past third party efforts.
The problem with all of those past tries — and people have been trying to form a third party in each election for the last 20 years or so — is that they started at the top with the presidential race.
I get it. The presidential is the sexiest race. It’s also the job with the most power in the country. And most rich people, who tend to be the ones trying to start new parties, like to start at the top.
But, that’s a mistake. If you truly want to build a new political party, it has to happen from the bottom up. By that I mean, you need to start running people for city council. State House and Senate. Maybe a smaller statewide office like auditor or treasurer.
Because parties are built from the bottom up, not the top down. You need activists. You need volunteers. You need evangelists at the local level. You need an organization. And the only way to build all of that is by starting small and expanding outward.
That takes time. And patience. Those are two traits that the sort of person who wants to start a new party (like Musk) don’t usually possess.
Musk’s idea of focusing on Senate and House races isn’t terrible! It’s better than saying you are going to run a third party bid for president. But it’s still starting too close to the top to work.
