Third party poltics

[bothwell]

Will there ever be a credible third party option in the USA. I know there have been a few independants in the past but they seem to get nowhere. On my frequent trips to America it appears to me to be more polarised than ever and a third party of the middle ground appears less and less likely

[yurbud]

1. Republicans started as a "third party" when one of two major parties

ceases to be relevant it is quickly replaced. At the moment, the Democrats and Republicans seem to be in a race to see who gets replaced first, one through inaction, the other through extremism.

[DarkTirade]

2. Although in this case I think there would be

more of a schism then a replacement. The psychos would seperate and become the extreme right party, and the actual conservatives would come back out of the woodwork to put back together the republican party.
The question is, which one will keep the republican name.

[bothwell]

3. Split

That was sort of my point, as the USA becomes more polarised (and perhaps I am wrong in this premise)then the number of people who want some middle ground must surely increase, hell they could do what the Liberal party does here, just take a few policies from right and left and Bob's your uncle.

[DarkTirade]

4. That's what libertarians WERE trying to do...

before they became mouthpieces for the right.

[yurbud]

5. the business wing would get to keep the name

they would be better at make a copyright claim in court.

That centrist-business GOP would be smaller than both the religious right and progressive branch of the Democrats, even if business Democrats joined their true party, the business-Republicans.

[DarkTirade]

11. Not necessarily.

I think a lot of middle ground people would probably join them.
Which wouldn't bother me actually. Then it would be a decent split... then the balance would be dems = slightly left, republicans = slightly right, religious whackos = fucking whacko far right nobody wants to admit personally knowing any of them.

[yurbud]

12. decent split on cultural issues, but not economic ones

The reality is the business branch sees the religous wackos as useful idiots because they couldn't sell deregulation, privatization, and ever lower taxes on the rich with that sheepskin of vapid cultural issues.

[Douglas Carpenter]

13. if we have three parties pushing highly unpopular neoliberal economics

and equally unpopular interventionist militarism there is still no party to represent the vast majority of Americans who don't believe in either.

I suggest we try to move the Democratic Party leadership out of the fringes and into the mainstream.

___________________
Borrowed from:
LynnTheDem

a super-majority of Americans are liberal in all but name
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051107/alterman
Public opinion polls show that the majority of Americans embrace liberal rather than conservative positions...
http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2002-04-16-liberal.shtml
The vast majority of Americans are looking for more social support, not less...
http://www.prospect.org/print/V12/7/borosage-r.html

http://people.umass.edu/mmorgan/commstudy.html

one more poll:

http://www.democracycorps.com/reports/analyses/Democracy_Corps_May_2005_Graphs.pdf

[Brundle_Fly]

6. Calling.....

ROSS PEROT, WEEEEE NEEEEED YOUUUUU!






gridlock!

[Douglas Carpenter]

7. we need a party to that represents the views of the vast majority

Borrowed from:
LynnTheDem

a super-majority of Americans are liberal in all but name
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051107/alterman
Public opinion polls show that the majority of Americans embrace liberal rather than conservative positions...
http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2002-04-16-liberal.shtml
The vast majority of Americans are looking for more social support, not less...
http://www.prospect.org/print/V12/7/borosage-r.html

http://people.umass.edu/mmorgan/commstudy.html

one more poll:

http://www.democracycorps.com/reports/analyses/Democracy_Corps_May_2005_Graphs.pdf

[JNelson6563]

8. I doubt it, here's why

While there are some third party minded people out there who know how to get it done, many who I have talked to in RL and on the 'net are big talkers, little else. Much whining and criticizing, no solutions.

Don't look for such folks to make progress anytime soon.

Julie

[AtomicKitten]

9. I would love more options.

But somehow ousting this crowd in the WH is so pressing that sticking with the Dems is the only seemingly viable option. If only the Republicans didn't operate with one brain. Their solidarity makes them tough to beat.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Third parties won't make much progress under the current

set up of our elections. We'll need some major changes to the system for multiple parties to be effective: http://www.hostdiva.com/liberalchristians/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=116&Itemid=29&limit=1&limitstart=1

[SteppingRazor]

14. Our electoral system naturally results in a two-party battle...

A third party is, barring bizarre events such as the dissolution of a major party (as when the Republicans rose to power over the Whigs), simply an impossibility. Our state-by-state, winner-take-all system results in a two-party race. If we wanted to change things, we'd have to up-end all of our election law and rewrite it to allow for proportional representation, a parliamentary system of government, or similar radical changes. Until we're willing to do that, we'll keep having two parties.

[donsu]

15. nobody's party will win until the voting is unrigged

nt

[bothwell]

16. Electoral system

I am glad somebody said it, I do find your system a little bit complicated and it does seem to discourage the emergence of genuine third way parties. To the outside observer it seems that the two parties and especially the republicans tend to garner a large amount of single issue voters. eg abortion, gun control etc rather than voters who concetrate on the wider picture but then I am probably wrong