The political media is periodically obsessed with third party runs for the White House, but in reality our two party system is here to stay.
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Over at The Upshot Brendan Nyhan had a great piece yesterday about the political media’s recurring obsession with potential third party runs for the presidency. Indeed we probably are due for another round of third party boosterism in 2016 with Buzzfeed is already talking up an independent run by 2012 also ran Jon Huntsman.
The biggest thing to remember about third party runs for the presidency is that they have almost no hope of winning. And as Nyhan points out the reasons for this are pretty clear:
A third-party candidate confronts the huge organizing and infrastructure advantages of the major parties, the difficulty of securing nationwide ballot access, the winner-take-all allocation of Electoral College votes and the fact that the House of Representatives decides the winner of a deadlocked Electoral College.
Sorry Tom Friedman, this just isn’t going to work.
The thing to realize about American politics is that our two party system is really durable. In fact it’s pretty much been the norm since the Civil War. And so if you want to try and influence American politics by creating a new party, or electing a one-time Republican turned independent like Huntsman, you are basically wasting your time.
But that doesn’t you can’t influence American politics! The great thing about our political system is that our two national political parties are basically just amalgamations of 50 state parties, and those parties are highly permeable. So basically anyone who wants to can get involved and influence what those parties stand for. And it’s happened before, whether you’re talking about movement conservatives taking over the Republican Party in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s or the Democrats deciding to embrace civil rights in the 40’s and 50’s, a relatively small group of activists can make a huge impact.
In short, if you are fed up with American politics don’t look for some third party president to come and rescue you, go out and get involved yourself.
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I think both parties are poor representatives for us. Primarily because they are all politicians trying to keep themselves in power mainly. That’s why, rightly or not I have voted for every challenger. I will not vote for an incumbent. Sad to say I’m probably voting against some relatively benign individuals but on the other hand they are all politicians and I have no faith in them doing really the right thing so that makes me feel that at least I have had my say, futile or not.
This sounds like a “resistance is futile” speech. The Republican party is in big trouble. So much so that even the Democrats are scared and continue to try and talk it back into the fold. Just look at the previous articles here. For those who would control every citizens’ choice and life, just remember this. When things go bad you get all the blame as well. No wonder you want to control the message so badly.
Republicrats and Demopublicans.
That is just what we have been programmed to believe all our lives. Both parties are just opposite sides of the same Socialist coin: the welfare/warfare state. The only real difference is the rhetoric. Neither one has upheld the Constitution, or enforced the Bill Of Rights as our highest laws. If they did, 90% of our Federal agencies would be abolished, and too many cops, judges and politicians would be in jail. Check out Americans For A Free Republic at http://www.afr.org for a real alternative.