Let's talk about third parties, shall we?

Before I begin I'd like to point out that I'm not as eloquent or well-versed as most on this forum, but I really wanted to get this off my chest, so bare with me and I'll try to hopefully get a discussion going. Let's begin.

So I was on reddit a little while ago when I came across this story: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/...arian-campaign-party-193500973--politics.html

Yes, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson managed to grab almost 1 whole percentage of the votes this election cycle (try to have that voice in your head sound as condescending as possible as you read that).

When I read this story, I was just reminded of the vicious cycle that occurs during every election year: a small community of folks complain about the two-party system, latch onto the nearest Perot/Nader/Paul/Johnson, cast their votes, and then are left scratching their heads as to why their guy isn't being sworn in January 20th.

I'll tell you why. These folks are trying to go from the lobby to the penthouse in one fell swoop. I'd almost compare it to Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown, except that would imply the opportunity to achieve your goal actually presented itself to you. This is more a case of Lucy not even bothering to show up to the park that day.

I highly doubt I'm breaking any new ground here, but I think if folks are serious about seeing a third-party candidate in the White House, then you need to take baby steps: Go the grassroots route, start electing folks on the local and state levels, build momentum. Do this and maybe your guy will have a shot and actually get invited to the debates next time around. As much as I despite the Tea Party, they had the right idea in that regard (and yes I know that the Tea Party was actually manufactured by right-wing corporations, but I think you know what I'm getting at here).

So in closing, to the folks who wanna see a third-party candidate go the distance, as far as I'm concerned you have two choices: slowly start to work your way up from the bottom to get your candidates noticed on a federal level, or keep chucking desperation votes at your guy every four years hoping for the best and endure election after election of this:



That is all. Feel free to share your thoughts.

Your electoral system is not compatible with three strong parties, anyway. Shit, ours doesn't work all that well, and we had five major federal parties just over a decade ago.

Shit's a mess, yo.

The Libertarian Party started as a protest party, and hasn't really attempted to become a vehicle through which to achieve political success until recently. When that shift happened, the Rothbardians in the party largely left and worked under the Ron Paul banner. The result of the migration? Instead of Harry Brownes or Mary Ruwarts, the party nominated drug warrior Bob Barr in 2008 and milquetoast Gary Johnson this cycle.

There were quite a few Libertarian candidates on the ballot here in Texas. I dont know if any of them won, but I voted for the Republican (if that was the only two choices) just to make it harder.

A socialist got 27% in a Washington State House race vs a Democrat. We got Bernie Sanders in the Senate who is a democratic socialist. You always gotta be ready to pounce if one of the major party goes Whig (or when capitalism brings down the US)

Libertarians argue with each other so much that they can't get a strong coalition going. If a group of libertarians step forward and gets something going, I can guarantee that they will be sniped at by others who disagree with only 10% of what they believe.

The two major parties are better at keeping their people in line, and they do it so blatantly that it has become expected.

I disagree that the two bigs are better at keeping people in line - but they've got the American people so brainwashed into believing that if you don't vote for one or the other, you're throwing your vote away... So when that one crazy (R) or (D) gets up on stage and says something loony, the third party candidate still gets overlooked because, man, we really don't want that guy on the other side to win.