I recently became aware that Darcy G. Richardson is seeking the Presidential nomination of the Reform Party. The Reform Party is holding its national convention starting today, 29 July through 31 July in Bohemia, New York. While I have never met Darcy personally, I consider him a virtual friend. We are both long time contributors to the third party news website Independent Political Report (IPR) as well as frequent commenters.

Darcy has written several books on the subject of third parties, including his most recent book which was, appropriately, a history of the Reform Party. While I don’t doubt that Darcy does extensive research on his subjects, you get the sense that he could write the definitive history of some obscure third party subject off the top of his head. The man is a walking encyclopedia of third party minutia, and as anyone who has ever been involved with the third party scene knows, there is a lot of minutia.

While Darcy is clearly a man of the left, and we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of subjects, I consider Darcy an honest old school liberal, the kind who actually cares about the economic well-being of the working class. He is someone like Ralph Nader, who Darcy has supported in the past, who focuses on issues of economic class and looking out for the working man, rather than the silly and counter-productive Social Justice Warrior grievance stoking, virtue signaling and thought policing that characterizes so much of the modern left.

Anyone who has followed my work knows that I am a strong supporter of Donald Trump because I believe his campaign has sparked a much needed and long overdue Middle American uprising, but I recognize that Bernie Sanders’ campaign flourished as well because he was also able to speak to the economic angst and insecurity of many brought about by our new “21^st Century” economy that has been foisted on us by donor class elites who are enriched by it but don’t have to live with the consequences but has left many stragglers who do in its wake.

While I would certainly like Sanders’ supporters to vote for Trump in the general based on the trade issue, and I appreciate the appeals that Trump has made to that end, I realize that there are some Sander’s supporters who will just never be able to bring themselves to vote for Trump. As an aside, the conservative feigned outrage chorus who believe it is somehow scandalous that Trump directly appealed to Sander’s supporters, either doesn’t understand the political process, or math or both. Whether they like it or not, the vote of a Sanders’ supporter counts just the same as does the vote of an enthusiastic Republican Trump voter or a reluctant Republican Trump voter. There are no half votes, one and a half votes or double votes. They all count as one.

Sander’s supporters who can’t bring themselves to vote for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, should give Darcy Richardson a serious look. Darcy wrote a book about Bernie Sanders in 2015, (The man is a writing machine.) and he even challenged Obama in the Democrat primary in 2012 running as a left-wing populist who was disappointed by Obama’s unwillingness to stand up to the financial elite on matters of the economy and foreign policy. I believe Richardson better represents the populist old style liberal approach that our current state of affairs calls for than does the more cookie-cutter modern liberalism of the Green Party’s Jill Stein. His campaign slogan, “Make America Productive Again,” perfectly encapsulates his approach.

I wish Darcy well in his effort to secure the Reform Party nomination this weekend, and I hope disgruntled Sanders’ supporters who can’t bring themselves to support Trump will give him serious consideration. Darcy represents an honest liberal populist perspective that is sorely needed on the modern left. Besides, he quite literally wrote the book on the party whose nomination he seeks.