jesse ventura talk: Why Jesse Ventura No Longer Supports the Third Party Movement

During the 2008 Presidential Election, Larry King asked Jesse Ventura whether he planned on voting for McCain or Obama. "You're gonna have to vote for one of the candidates," said King, insinuating that Ventura had to choose between the Republican and Democrat offerings.

"No, I'm not. I never vote Democrat or Republican. I'll pick someone else. There'll be a Libertarian on the ballot. There'll be someone else on the ballot. I will not vote for a Republican or a Democrat," said Ventura. To anyone familiar with Ventura's frequent criticism of the two party system, Ventura's statement shouldn't come as a surprise, especially considering that Ventura won the 1998 Minnesota Gubernatorial election as a third party candidate.

Now, however, Jesse Ventura's singing a different tune. "I do not support the third party movement anymore," said Ventura during a 2010 interview with Howard Stern, "The Democrats and Republicans have created such a corrupt system that any third party, if they're going to compete, is going to have to corrupt themselves. You've already got a two-headed monster. Why would you want a three-headed one?"

Ventura feels any third party, if it wants corporate campaign contributions, has to give in to corporate demands and lobbying, thereby corrupting itself. And although Ventura admits that a three party system is better than two, he'd still prefer an America free of political parties.

"I now advocate the abolishment of political parties," said Ventura on Fox Business, "George Washington agrees with me. Thomas Jefferson agrees with me and most certainly John Adams especially agrees with me because John Adams stated the fall of America would not come from a force outside, it would come from within, he said, when political parties take over our government."

"That's where we're at today," said Ventura who, like many of us, believes partisan politics has a stranglehold on the United States. "Let's make political parties political action committees," he said. PACs would allow like-minded people to organize, raise money and support independent, no-party candidates. This, in turn, would encourage people to vote for candidates based off the candidates' platforms, not simply because they belong to a certain party.

Turning parties into PACs and removing party names from election ballots are two ways Ventura feels America can save itself from self-serving political parties. All too often, political parties, especially the Republican and Democratic parties, put their interests and the interests of their corporate handlers ahead of the interests of their constituents and the American people.

"What you have now is like going into the grocery store in the soft drink department and the only choices you have are Pepsi and Coke," said Ventura.

Jesse Ventura on Larry King (click play to listen)