Carroll runs as third-party Presidential candidate in Wisconsin

Wisconsin voters will be able to choose from more than Democrats and Republicans in this year’s U.S. Presidential Election.

It has been confirmed that Brian Carroll will be on the ballot as a candidate for the American Solidarity Party. His running mate, or the VP candidate, is Amar Patel of Illinois.

The party began in 2011 as the Christian Democratic Party USA but changed its name in 2012.

Carroll, a California resident, did an interview with News Publishing Inc. as part of our series on third-party options.

He talked about the party, why he’s running and what issues he sees as the being the most important.

Pro-life

Carroll said he was a Republican for 35 years because he is a Christian and values the pro-life cause. He left the party due to it not doing enough in that department. For example, he said Republicans have refused to back universal health care and tried to cut social programs, which Carroll sees as vital to the pro-life stance.

He added that his party is also against the death penalty and assisted suicide, and he isn’t happy about how migrant children have been separated from their families at the Mexican border.

As a member of the American Solidarity Party, he supports ideas that benefit all people from birth to death.

“It’s a whole-life picture,” he said.

Environment

His party also supports legislation to help protect the environment and slow climate change. Carroll said he’s already worried about the ever-growing Sahara desert, disappearing farmland and continuing drought. In impoverished nations, this causes hunger, which leads to refugees.

He said people also become desperate when their crops won’t grow, so they turn to hardier plants. In Columbia, that’s cocaine. Carroll said he used to be a missionary there for nine years and saw first-hand how the quality of the land dwindled for growing coffee beans. So farmers switched, which has led to violence and drug addiction that have seeped even into U.S. borders.

Racial disparity

With the Black Lives Matter movement in the news, Carroll said his party has also been talking about racial inequality and disparities. He said these problems are unfortunately nothing new in the U.S. but the fervor to fix them fades far too quickly, only to return after the next incident.

He noted that fixing the criminal justice system could go a long way in addressing this area. He said the current setup is far too eager to imprison people for non-violent crimes, and that these individuals would be better served in treatment and training programs.

Carroll, a retired schoolteacher, recalled a single mother of his students who developed an addiction to painkillers while undergoing treatment for a medical condition. She enrolled in classes to kick her habit but was unable to finish because one of her sons ended up in the hospital with a serious illness. Because she didn’t complete the class, she was sent to jail for 30 days.

“That’s not somebody who needed to be incarcerated,” he said. “That’s someone who needed help.”

This doesn’t mean flinging open all the cell doors. Violent, dangerous criminals do belong in prison, he emphasized.

Collaboration

Lack of cooperation is one of the biggest problems in modern leadership, a malady Carroll hopes to remedy. He said too many Democrats and Republicans aren’t willing to compromise or negotiate because they want all or nothing, they want to claim all the credit, or they don’t want to be blamed.

“Congress can’t get anything done and it’s because of partisanship,” he said.

He pointed to DACA students, more commonly known as Dreamers. Carroll said the U.S. could put these individuals on the path to citizenship, but instead there’s only been debate and dissent.

“Congress can’t get their act together and do a simple thing,” he said.

If elected, Carroll said he’d make a cabinet with both Democrats and Republicans, and he’d encourage them to work together. He said there are good people in both parties, and they need to be empowered.

He added that, as a third party candidate, he can see the pros and cons presented by both major parties.

Wasted vote?

Carroll said he doesn’t agree with those who think voting for a third-party candidate is a wasted vote. He added that people should vote for a candidate they truly support, not just someone who shares their views in one or two areas or who they hate the least.

“If you vote for something you don’t want and win, have you really won?” he said.

And even today’s major parties had to start somewhere. The Republican Party, for instance, began in a small schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. It went on to put up Abraham Lincoln as a Presidential candidate, and the rest is history. Carroll said people can get the change they want if they are willing to stick with it.

Varying rules

It can be tough for third-party candidates to get on the ballot because each state has different rules. In some states, it’s as simple as filling out paperwork or recording a message that can be played for blind voters, Carroll said. In others, it’s far more challenging. In New Mexico, for example, his party needed to collect 5,000 signatures just to make the ballot.

“That’s prohibitive, even in times of COVID,” he said.

Also, third parties lack the funding of Democrats and Republicans, which means they have to find other ways to share their message. This may include emails or social media pages.

Patience, stamina

Today’s problems won’t be solved easily or quickly, which is going to be tough to stomach for the many Americans who’ve become accustomed to instant gratification. Carroll said many issues, from global warming to economic worries to immigration, have been snowballing for years, and thus they will take time to solve. For that reason, he looks to long-term solutions.

That’s why cooperation is so important among leaders. He said it will take different voices and views working together to get things moving. However, partisanship has the wheels spinning, and the challenges aren’t going away.

He added that Americans need to panic less and avoid elevating candidates to savior levels. Too many people think just voting another way or choosing a certain person will instantly fix everything, but life’s not that easy.

“Every election, we’re told this is the most important election of our lifetimes. We need to break out of that mold,” he said.