How can we get a strong third pary in the U.S.A?

1. 82

   mperrottetposted 11 years ago

   How can we get a strong third pary in the U.S.A?
   
   Many people want the United States to have a strong third party, but are unwilling to vote for a third party. They feel that their vote would be thrown away and/or that it would take away votes from their preferred candidate running as a Democrat or Republican.  How then can we ever get a strong third party in this country?

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2. 74

   michiganman567posted 11 years ago

   split the democrat party into the liberal party and the communist party.

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3. 0

   Old Empresarioposted 11 years ago

   Wait until the next global recession hits and crashes the economy. Third parties will emerge everywhere as evidenced by history.

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4. 73

   Jim and Beyondposted 11 years ago

   Every four years, people rant and rave about a Third Party candidate for President.  I happen to be one of those people who "wasted" my vote on H. Ross Perot back in 1992, so I'm as guilty as the rest.  There is some truth in the notion that a Third Party President would be ineffective because any changes he (or she, don't want to be sexist here) would hope to make would still have to go through Congress.  A Third Party President needs a majority of allies, and VOTES, in the Congress to accomplish anything, which would be like shoveling against the tide.
   
   It is for that reason I believe a Third Party needs to be built from the ground up, on the Gubernatorial level and the Congressional level.  If a State or two elected third party Governors, and if noticeable positive changes were made, perhaps a few Congressmen could be elected from the same Third Party.  Then a Senator or two.  Such strong footing is necessary for the support a Third Party Presidential candidate would need to be elected and to be successful.

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5. 57

   Josh Bellposted 11 years ago

   Well it would have to start with un-brainwashing the masses, and good luck with that!

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6. 73

   Gamerelatedposted 11 years ago

   This is a frequently asked question in politics and economics.  From my studies it seems that most of the experts point to the election rules here in the United States as favoring a two-party system.  From an economics perspective, given the current rules, the two-party system is more efficient.
   
   However if the rules were changed it would be conceivable that we could have 3 or more parties and that it would be more efficient as well. 
   
   One solution, although it is imperfect, is the run-off election.  Say you have a Republican, Democrat, and left leaning Independent.  In a normal election with no run-offs.  The left leaning independent will be discouraged from even running.  The independent will often drop out of the race to prevent what is known as the "spoiler effect" which is a third party candidate taking votes away from similar major party candidates. 
   
   Some independent voters will also refrain from voting for an independent that runs because they are trying to prevent the Republican from winning via vote splitting.  A runoff election allows the voter to pick whoever they want out of the 3 candidates and then select again in a run-off election without the fear of vote splitting.  This encourages third party candidates to run and it also encourages third party voters to vote without the fear of the vote splitting or the "spoiler effect".

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7. 0

   Larry Wallposted 11 years ago

   You are probably never see a third party. One of the parties may "reinvent" itself, but all thrid parties do is take votes away from one of the other parties, usually the conservative party.
   
   If only the President is from the third party, he is going to have a difficult time building a coalition in Congress. Both parties will have reasons to ignore him or her.
   
   The Democratic Party has tried creating factions within itself, such as the Blue Dog Democrats, who were really Republicans disguised as Democrats in most cases. They were effective for a short time, when there was a Republican President, who would turn to them to try and build a consensus. Once a Democrat was elected President, he dealt with the party leadership and not with a caucus of less than perfect Democrats.

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8. 60

   mio cidposted 11 years ago

   For there to be a strong third party there has to be a third party in the first place, which there have really never been at least in the  20th or 21st century what there have been is independent candidates like Perot or Nader but there's nothing left once the election is over.And for  a third party to become formidable enough to challenge the major parties it would have to participate nationally in several election cycles and aquire seats in the senate and house first.

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