How many of you think we need a new party that would have a chance of winning an election?

Question

The Dems and Reps are looking more and more the same all the time.

Answer 1

You are absolutely right.

George Wallace said, "there's not a dime's worth of difference" between them. He said this in 1968 (when he ran as a 3rd-party candidate, and got about 46 Electoral votes!)
Since then, the gap has closed, and with inflation, there's not a nickel's worth of difference.

Third parties have a very hard time breaking into the political duopoly (as Ross Perot found out), but more and more people are registered "none of the above" and this just might be the year they finally get some representation!

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Answer 2

I don't agree. I don't think there's been a starker choice as to which direction the country will go with the next election. The Reps have NO plan to get us out of Iraq, fix social security, health care. They're a bunch of tired old White men with no new ideas. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Religious Right get behind a 3rd party candidate because of disenchantment with Giulliani on social issues. That would suit me just fine. It would give the Dems a lock on this election.

Answer 3

Who says there is a 2-party system?!
It's a 1-party system, with two factions.
The Establishment Party has a Demoblican wing and a Repucrat wing.
The conspire in their legislatures to make it nearly impossible for other parties (or independent candidates) to get on the ballot).
Then, they protect each others' INCUMBENTS by only running paper candidates against incumbents seeking re-election.
(The secret name of the "Establishment Party" is the "Incumbent Party".)

In Presidential elections, it's a little bit easier to get on ballot, but still very difficult to do it in 50 states (or in enough states to have a chance of getting a majority in the Electoral College). Only the Libertarian Party has gotten on ballot in all 50 states, more than once.

My favorite piece of campaign literature is a 1988 flyer depicting the two big parties as "Tweedledee & Tweedledum". It was for the Libertarian Presidential campaign of Ron Paul! He is now running for the G.O.P. nomination, and has disavowed interest in another third-party run.

However, the big two have conspired to narrow it down to TWO as early as February 5th -- nearly a year before the inauguration!
If that happens, think the public backlash just might be sufficient to launch a viable third party alternative. (And, since the Constitution Party has already endorsed him, and he is popular among not only Libertarians but also many Greens and others, as well as remnants of the Reform Party), it would not surprise me to see Ron Paul drafted as the standard-bearer of a new party!


Yes, it's a VERY long shot.
But, every day, the odds against it are going down.
(Ron Paul had 100-1 and 50-1 odds in the betting; now he's at 6-1)

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Answer 4

I don't agree that the Dems and the Republicans look at all alike. I would though support a third party if it were a "business" or "management" party that stressed good fiscal management. Fiscal conservatives are kind of adrift right now, and migrating to the Democrats in hopes of reducing the deficit. The Republican party has left us and has become a quirky little churchy party.

Bloomberg would be a great candidate, and be more of a factor than most people think. He could win in NY, and with Schwarzenegger campaigning he could win California too. A few more states and he's elected and America rejoins the rest of the developed, educated world.

Answer 5

Wassup. It's unfair how the third parties can never run successfully. The Republicans and Democrats are the ones in power, so they can make it harder for other parties to even get on the ballot. The Libertarian Party has a presidential candidate hopeful from Oklahoma, but they are having a hard time with getting into the election. In Oklahoma, third parties, in order to get on a presidential ballot, must have a petition signed by FIVE percent of the state's population! That's ONE of TWENTY! If that's not unfair, you tell me what is.

Answer 6

I do and we do... But people insist in voting for the lesser of the 2 evils. No matter which you pick, you are still picking evil!

I consider myself a Libertarian, and always vote for the candidate that I agree with the most. Last election was Badnarik, this time I am picking Ron Paul.

Fight for our liberties and freedom. Americans speak English, let's keep it that way. We are not the world police... Let's stop acting like it! If other countries want our help. Make them pay for it. The government is supposed to designed to protect the citizens, and to provide a stable monetary system. I believe if someone attacked us right now we would be screwed, because we have all of our resources in Iran. Stop with the hand outs! I need to work my butt off and our current system hands out my hard earned money to illegal aliens. Not fair!!!

Answer 7

We absolutely need strong "3rd" parties. I believe the corruption, cronyism, bureaucracy, and power-grabbing is so entrenched in both the Democrat and Republican parties, that developing alternative parties that Americans can vote for may be the ONLY way this country has a real future. By the way, the Liberatarian Party may be of interest to many Americans if they knew more about it. It truly supports smaller government and individual rights, it ALSO supports civil liberties.

Answer 8

why do people always refer to the US as America, i don't know if any of you have picked up a geography book. If you have not now might be a good time to start. Cause America is a continent and there are two parts, south and north america. So its going to be time to learn some real vocabulary pretty soon. We don't represent America, the Manifest Destiny and Monroe Doctrine are not our national policy anymore. We are the US a country not a continent.

Answer 9

I do!

We need to divide them into 4 parties, maybe named the Liberals, Old Democrats, Conservatives, and Old Republicans, plus add the Libertarian and Green parties into the mix.

Answer 10

A viable third party would be fantastic. Unfortunately, at least for now, the third parties seem to have an air of extremism in them on one issue or another..and scare people off.