The name "Bull Moose" was a popularly used term for Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party, which was formed as a result of the Republican Party nominating Taft in 1912. The term originated when TR bragged about being "as fit as a bull moose" after being shot in an assassination attempt. The split in the Republican Party was an important reason Woodrow Wilson won in 1912. Wilson's victory was an important cause of the shift in the focus of the political parties. Before Wilson, the Democratic Party had been for reduced Federal government. After Wilson, the Democratic Party became the party of Progressives, while the Republicans started to become the party of Capitalists (in the old sense of the word - people with strong capital interests).
So if TR's third party led to a loss for his erstwhile party, why do I think a third party would be a good idea today? Because both existing parties have given up being the party of the people. Notwithstanding Reaganite populism, the Republican Party is still the party of capital interests, not of labor. While Lincoln once said, "Capital is only the fruit of labor," modern Republicanism has become the lapdog of monied interests.
Meanwhile, Democrats continue to claim support for the working class, while overseeing a federal government that has become a hungry beast. Americans slave away like the Hebrews in Egypt while bureaucrats become a new aristocracy. Who has the courage to stand up to these abuses?
I propose that it is time to revive the party of Theodore Roosevelt. TR was not afraid to stand up to anybody who was abusing power. He broke up monopolies at the same time he refused to allow the unions to become the oppressive Goliaths they have become today. Now there is hardly a politician who is not in somebody's pocket.
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