Question for voters about a third party.?

Question

I was wondering if some people could give me some feedback on this. I found this website that actually seems to think that a third party could exist in this country. Do you think it could happen? And if so how could we hurry this up?

http://www.unity08.com/

Answer 1

Third parties DO exist. The problem is that they don't gain much traction, because it takes many years to build a successful coalition. And third parties are often single-issue focused or else very doctrinally focused, so again, it is difficult to build that critical mass.

Third parties are great, but the laws are stacked against them, and the timing makes it difficult, but there's still a role for them to play. If nothing else, they keep the two big parties more honest.

Answer 2

A 3rd party will never gain any respect until they start at the bottom and earn stripes towards the big picture. Start with the State Legislative and show what your goals are to the people of that state.
Now the House, the districts are smaller and they have a much better chance to raise money and get local TV.
Next the Senate, this of course costs more money and much more ground to cover. But, because you already have some ground covered in the state this will be easier.
Now that 10yrs have gone by and your party has been invited on a few national television news programs you can start looking at the big picture.
I wish people would just think about one thing,,if a 3rd party won the presidency, and the Democrats and Republicans control Congress what could the new president really get done. NOTHING, the other parties would just crush him/her to where they would only have 1-term and no one would vote again for a 3rd party. (This is one time when there would be bipartisanship to crush the new guy)

Answer 3

I think it's possible although becoming more difficult as party politics intensify in the states. This would be a good election for one though, with a large number of candidates and no real front-runner as of yet.

The last time this happened was in '92, when George Bush Sr. was in very poor political favor, and was challenging by a then-unknown Bill Clinton. Ross Perot might be a joke NOW, but he got nearly 20% of the vote that year, which is amazing for a third party. It just takes people becoming frustrated with BOTH parties, and deciding it is better to vote for a third party rather than trying to focus on making sure "the other side" doesn't win.

Answer 4

Unity 08 isn't a party; it seeks to nominate a presidential candidate from one party and a vice presidential candidate from another.

Many third parties exist, though none have much chance of running a successful presidential candidate. Some have members who hold local offices.

I don't know how successful unity 08 will be, but they have some high profile support and thus the ability to raise awareness that others might not have. I'd like to see Ron Paul run for the Unity08 nomination with a prolife Democrat as his VP candidate, but I doubt that will happen.

To hurry it up, you would probably need someone with experience and national name recognition ( or a ton of $) to seek the Unity 08 nomination. If everyone like that decides to stick with either the Democrats or Republicans, I doubt Unity08 will get a lot of votes in the general election.

bernie
http://www.yaktivist.com

Answer 5

I think it would be extremely difficult with the current campaign structure. Elections today are about money. The best way to start a third party is to do it at the grass roots level. Election by election state by state so that you begin to build a party base. There is no way a third party candidate can win the presidencey this time around short of a miracle.

But if you start now and begin winning campaigns locally at the state and federal level who knows what could happen in 4 years.

Answer 6

In 1992, an independent 'third party' candidate got 19% of the popular vote, even AFTER the "Republicrats" did all they could to squeeze him out of the race, even going so far as to threatening violence at his daughter's upcoming wedding and painting the man as a 'wacko'. While all the other candidates CLAIMED they were not "career politicians", this one man was the only one who stood up and publicly said, "I will be your servant!"
While all the other candidates CLAIMED they supported 'family values', it's a sure bet none of them would have ever dropped out of the race to protect their daughter's wedding.
That man was H. Ross Perot, a self-made billionaire who
could have brought integrity, professionalism, business acumen, honesty, leadership and accomplishment to our government. But the stranglehold that the Republicans and Democrats have on our political system finally 'won', even though Perot gave these scumbags the scare of their life. "Republicrats" will do anything and everything in their power not to let that happen again. That's not to say it couldn't happen....but the wimpy American voters need to stand up for what they believe in instead of believing all the hyperbole and propaganda the "Republicrats" throw at them. Ours is the most corrupted political system in the civilized world. Yes, we definitely NEED a new party with fresh ideas that can bring humility, honesty, integrity and straightforwardness back to the dirty game of politics. -RKO- 05/20/07

Answer 7

Personally, I would not like to see a "large" 3rd party. It's hard enough to elect candidates from one of the 2 parties!!!

If you want to see what havoc can be rendered by 3+ party systems, you only need look at Israel, Iraq, Great Britain, etc, for the problems which arise from trying to form "coalition" governments where, to get ANYTHING DONE, you have to attempt to have 2+ parties agree on things. What a mess! 2 parties are messy enough, thank you!

Answer 8

There are many political parties in the US. The Republican and Democrat machines don't allow for competition. In addition, the MSM always depicts other parties as kooky nutcases.

Answer 9

Third parties do exist. It's just that people reject the notion. Except me, I'm a Constitutionalist.

Answer 10

It has always been but has never won.
To win you need the moderate vote & moderate voters
have never trusted a third party.