RIP Cool Moose

March 23, 2016 8:42 PM

Rhode Island has its own Perennial Candidate - Robert J. Healey. He founded the Cool Moose Party, and many candidates have enjoyed the rush of charging at the two-party Status Quo on a well organized but ultimately doomed third party ticket. In 2014, he spent less than $40 on his campaign as the Gubernatorial candidate for the Moderate Party. Forty. Dollars. Less than. He won 21% of the vote for Governor. He passed away in his sleep at his Barrington home, age 58.
posted by Slap*Happy (12 comments total)

.
posted by evilDoug at 9:46 PM on March 23, 2016

This is colorful but counterproductive politics. The US has a two-party political system, and running third-party splits the vote on your side and awards the win to the other side. You can wish it weren't so; I sure do. But third-party politics in the US is blam blam shooting yourself in the foot.
posted by mississippi at 9:47 PM on March 23, 2016

Unless, you get two third parties on opposite sides of the spectrum (the Greens and the Constitution Party, for instance) to attempt to split from the major parties. Libertarians can run as spoiler to split the wacky center.
posted by Apocryphon at 10:18 PM on March 23, 2016

Man, 58 is too young. And I like quixotic parties.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 10:26 PM on March 23, 2016

This is colorful but counterproductive politics. The US has a two-party political system, and running third-party splits the vote on your side and awards the win to the other side. You can wish it weren't so; I sure do. But third-party politics in the US is blam blam shooting yourself in the foot.

I think it's probably a mistake to presume that a perennial candidate for a one-person party with a silly name who campaigned on issues like eliminating the office he was running for is trying to achieve the same thing most candidates are. That's not to say Healey didn't have political positions to enact had he been elected governor (you can read a whole boatload of them in this PDF), but the actual goal of the project was, as far as I can tell, to reduce the influence of the major political parties in elections as much as possible, and running as a third-party that's obviously just you is the best way to achieve that goal. After all, the main plank of the Cool Moose platform wasn't anything about taxes or schools or employment, it was, "to break down the ideological barriers that have kept common sense out of our government," which I take to mean getting rid of highly-ideological political parties and replacing it with a system of individual citizens making their best judgment about various issues without interference or pressure from outside ideologues, or at least a system with a multitude of smaller parties that might be able to find temporary common ground on specific issues even while disagreeing strongly on others.

Now, I'll admit that there's something on a spectrum between willfully naive and wildly simplistic about that view of politics, but he wasn't trying to put together a movement to shift the political system from one ideology to another, or even to address one important issue in a meaningful way. I think he was trying to destroy the system altogether, and given that his bugbear was the two-party system itself much more than any individual issue that a Republican or Democratic governor might make policy decisions about, running as a third-party candidate makes a lot of sense.
posted by Copronymus at 10:54 PM on March 23, 2016 [4 favorites]

if nothing else, he had a magnificent beard. And he kept RI's political system a little nervous, which was always a good thing.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:23 PM on March 23, 2016 [3 favorites]

Y'all should really read that obituary. He sounds like a wonderful guy.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:10 AM on March 24, 2016

.
posted by Mezentian at 2:14 AM on March 24, 2016

A close member of my family is dating a close member of his family and this is very sad news. I didn't know him personally but he did a lot of interesting things (like winning the schoolwide vote for governor when I was in seventh grade based solely on the name "Cool Moose") and, for all that there's a lot on which I disagree with him politically, he was a good man who worked for what he thought was right and will be missed by his many friends and family members who loved him very much.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 4:12 AM on March 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

GenjiandProust: And he kept RI's political system a little nervous, which was always a good thing.

This is more important than outsiders might appreciate: Rhode Island's politicians are so jaw-droppingly complacent that anything capable of rousing them is to be esteemed.

Of course, the state's liquor business is also frustratingly protectionist, so it amuses me that this outsider found great success in such a closed arena.

Healy was, by all accounts, a warm and principled guy, and the death of those who stand up to fight entrenched systems should be noted and honored.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:58 AM on March 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

Since I turned 18 I've always lived in Diane Abbott's seat in Hackney, which means elections were a foregone conclusion. I'd always vote for the most obscure sounding socialist party because in my mind it would make them the happiest to get one more vote. I live in Rhode Island now and I sincerely hope this will still be an option.
posted by Cassettevetes at 6:08 PM on March 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

Of course, the state's liquor business is also frustratingly protectionist, so it amuses me that this outsider found great success in such a closed arena.

I understand Healey got into the business simply because someone said he couldn't, without ties to politicians at the state and local level and an "in" with the community of businessmen and mobsters running the racket. He proved he could, and cleanly. He didn't make a fortune doing it, but that wasn't the point.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:51 PM on March 24, 2016 [2 favorites]