Raise your hand if you can define “Whig” — without peeking at
Wikipedia or a textbook. (I can’t, either.) That said, I sat
through last Friday’s opening of Lincoln, the latest Old Abe
biopic that stars Daniel Day-Lewis, and kept fiddling with the
same, unanswered question: If Lincoln were alive today, what
would he be? Whig is a non-starter, if for no other reason than
modern-day American politics is a two-party race. Whiggery died
more than a century ago. Today’s others — Libertarians, Greens,
etc. — exist for various reasons and have devoted followers.
Though there are extremists among them, their causes are logical
and legitimate. But who’s the last third-party or independent
candidate who truly affected the outcome of a presidential
election? Strom Thurmond in 1948? George Wallace in 1968?
Perhaps Ross Perot in 1996? Not a chance. Well, here’s where it
gets tricky, as I tried to tell my 13-year-old son when he
asked, somewhat perplexed, about Lincoln being a Republican —
the same party, in a mind influenc