The Modern Whig Party

[Jitter Free]

I found this newly revamped political party while surfering the net.  http://modernwhig.org/  

My question to the forum:  Is there room for the Modern Whig Party in Oklahoma?

[RecycleMichael]

I wore a wig to a big party because Hillary lost to Obama. I thought I was safe because it was 1,500 miles away from Tulsa.

A woman in my office took pictures of me and is using them as a bargaining chit for better work conditions.

[inteller]

What I'm wondering is if the Whigs are still on the books in some states to give automatic balloting instead of having a signature drive.  That would be pretty smart.

[Jitter Free]

I didn't know this but apparently Oklahoma has some of the most restrictive election laws in the country pertaining to "new" political parties.  Here is a case that was decided last year regarding the Libertarian Party trying to get on the ballot here in Oklahoma:  http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=449187

I don't guess many Republicans or Democrats would be too inclined to change the election laws to encourage additional political parties in the state.

[grahambino]

maybe the Whigs aren't coming back, but this last election proved the Mugwumps have.

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by grahambino

maybe the Whigs aren't coming back, but this last election proved the Mugwumps have.

[8D]A definition of the word from a nice little wordsmith website http://www.word-detective.com/032404.html-

Dear Word Detective:  What is the origin of the word "mugwump"?  My grandfather used to call me this when I was little and I had always thought it might be an American Indian word or name. Now that I know the definition, I have considerable doubts. -- Carmen.
Well, I'm wondering which definition we're talking about, since "mugwump" really has three.  To begin at the beginning, "mugwump" does indeed come from a Native American word, the Algonquian "mugquomp" (or "mummugquomp"), which means "war leader" or simply "chief."  One early use of "mugwump" in print was in a translation of the Old Testament into Algonquian by Reverend John Eliot in 1663, in which he used "mugwump" to stand in for "officer," "captain" and "duke."
In English, "mugwump" was used starting in the early 1800s to mean "an important person, a boss," but chiefly in a humorous or mocking sense to mean "a pompous, self-important, puffed-up big fish in a small pond."  The closest synonym would probably be the derisive term "pooh-bah," drawn from Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado."  Another synonym would be "nabob," originally denoting an official in the Mogul Empire, but long used as a derogatory term for a self-appointed arbiter of social or political morality.  The most celebrated recent use of "nabob" was without doubt William Safire's alliterative broadside at "nattering nabobs of negativism" in a 1970 speech penned for then Vice President (and later convicted felon) Spiro Agnew.
"Mugwump" acquired a more specific meaning during the US presidential election of 1884, when it was applied to some Republicans who refused to support their party's nominee James G. Blaine and opted instead to cross over and vote for Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland.  In this sense "mugwump" meant "one who affects a disinterest or lack of loyalty in party politics, especially out of a sense of self-importance."  Since the Cleveland-Blaine contest faded from public memory, "mugwump" has often been used to mean simply "unprincipled fence-sitter," as in the classic definition of a "mugwump" as "A man with his mug on one side of the fence and his wump on the other."
My guess is that your grandfather was using "mugwump" in its original sense to gently kid you about being "an important person" (unless, of course, he somehow held you responsible for Cleveland's defeat of Blaine).

[inteller]

quote:Originally posted by Jitter Free

I didn't know this but apparently Oklahoma has some of the most restrictive election laws in the country pertaining to "new" political parties.  Here is a case that was decided last year regarding the Libertarian Party trying to get on the ballot here in Oklahoma:  http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=449187

I don't guess many Republicans or Democrats would be too inclined to change the election laws to encourage additional political parties in the state.

the laws on oklahoma books are crooked and suppress the political process.