Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk ran a poll on July 4th, stating that "Independence Day is the perfect time to ask if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system!" He then asked, "Should we create the America Party?"

More than 1.2 million people participated, with 65.4% voting "yes," they would prefer a third party, an America Party.

On that basis Musk announced on Saturday the formation of the America Party, and immediately got pushback on the idea, beginning with President Donald Trump.

"I think it's ridiculous to start a third party," Trump said. " I think starting a third party just adds to confusion."

But more than "ridiculous," it's dangerous, as anyone who remembers the 1992 presidential election can attest. That year Ross Perot entered the race as a conservative independent, and stole 18.9% of the vote from George H.W. Bush, giving America eight years of Bill Clinton.

Granted, Bush wasn't the most conservative of conservatives, but he was no Clinton.

Musk was prompted to form his America Party because of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) in early June, stating that "I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination."

Musk concluded, "Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it."

Sure, it offers tax breaks on Social Security benefits, eliminates tax on tips and on overtime, and defunds Planned Parenthood — but it will add an estimated $4.5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. Even syndicated talk radio host Dana Loesch, a Trump supporter, was livid.

"Republicans just failed the first test of cutting spending — failed at even making the 2017 tax cuts permanent. They failed voters. They talked a big game about DOGE recommended cuts and did nothing," she posted to Facebook. "They voted last night to increase spending by $340+ billion. Sen. Rand Paul proposed an amendment to cut spending by $1.4 trillion and over half of the GOP Senate voted no. Not only do we have to fight the left but we [have] to fight our own party to get the agenda we voted for."

But the OBBB isn't an actual budget — it's a continuing resolution (CR), a bill that essentially continues spending at its current level. An actual budget won't be due until September, which should consist of 12 appropriation bills if they do it in regular order.

Each bill would address a different area of government funding. But we got bad news there also.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced Sunday that instead of hammering out 12 bills as the House should, or even a huge omnibus appropriations bill, he's planning two more continuing resolutions — one in the fall and another in the spring.

Not only are CRs lazy, they're generally huge, allowing drafters to hide provisions they don't want the general public to necessarily know about right away. That's the beauty of 12 small appropriation bills.

So what do you do when two former best pals are at polar opposites on an issue? Trump is right that a third party is "ridiculous," it would split the conservative vote and hand Democrats the keys to the federal government.

And Musk is right that we can't continue spending like drunken sailors. That would also hurt Republicans.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that Musk put his resources behind a balanced budget amendment, adding that it would be far more successful than a new political party.

Although a balanced budget amendment, along with congressional term limits, would be great in the long run, it would be years in the making and wouldn't solve our immediate problems.

Chicago-based talk radio host, business advocate, and two-time New York Times bestselling author Carol Roth suggested reducing spending to pre-COVID levels, before spending reached levels of insanity.

And it turns out that Roth is spot-on, according to government data.

The current federal debt is a tad over $37 trillion and rising.

Pre-COVID, 2019 spending was $4.4 trillion.

The U.S. government estimates its total revenue will be $5.49 trillion for fiscal year 2025. This would put us $1.09 trillion in the black, reducing out debt to $36 trillion.

A third political party isn't the answer, and Republicans will eventually pay a heavy price if they continue on the present course of passing one continuing resolution after another. Congress has to get back to regular order and do the job we pay them to do.

To paraphrase Daniel Hannan, member of the United Kingdom's House of Lords: We can't spend our way to prosperity; we can't borrow our way out of debt.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.