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If A Third Party Went Mainstream...

If A Third Party Went Mainstream, Which One Would You Want It To Be?


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Good luck with that. I believe it will only get worse as our politicians have figured out a way to make a mint without voting on making that mint for them.

No matter who is doing it, it's still dishonest, and there are too many people all over the country who feel uneasy and edgy enough in their gut that they have become "preppers" for a yet unknown future. From what I've read, it ranges from getting months of extra food put away, more guns and ammo, gold and silver, medicine, solar or other ways to carry on if the grid is attacked and taken down, and hooking up with like-minded neighbors for mutual defense. Hard to fathom that this is taking place in America, but these people for the most part are just ordinary folks, and not wackos. The internet is full of all sorts of suggestions on ways to survive, and that is extremely scary to me, since I wonder what they see coming. :shock:
 
No matter who is doing it, it's still dishonest, and there are too many people all over the country who feel uneasy and edgy enough in their gut that they have become "preppers" for a yet unknown future. From what I've read, it ranges from getting months of extra food put away, more guns and ammo, gold and silver, medicine, solar or other ways to carry on if the grid is attacked and taken down, and hooking up with like-minded neighbors for mutual defense. Hard to fathom that this is taking place in America, but these people for the most part are just ordinary folks, and not wackos. The internet is full of all sorts of suggestions on ways to survive, and that is extremely scary to me, since I wonder what they see coming. :shock:

What they see coming is the U.S. falling off that abyss cliff that is inevitable.
 
Even with everything stacked against them, the Libertarian Party has been growing quite steadily for some time now. Eventually, the major political parties and the mainstream media will not be able to cover up the corruption and lack of progress to stifle the 3rd party vote. The youth are moving to the libertarian party, and that is the best possible scenario for the party.
 
The youth are moving to the libertarian party,

And then they graduate and see the real world. They then discover that Econ 101 is not sufficient to describe the real world.
 
If a third party suddenly went mainstream and got national footing, which one would you want it to be?
As the options of what amounts to mainstream vendors have limited appeal, I'll opt for an entirely fictitious party comprised of the proud recipients of frontal lobes. Of course they'd be assassinated within hours of registry, but then the Word was made flesh after all. Not that we're God but we are creative.
 
Alright...going to rain on the parade a bit in terms of a third party and why it's historically unlikely that any will ever truly get "mainstream", at least in terms of actually having a chance to attain higher office. This is a slightly updated post of mine prior to the 2012 election when some fanboys were going on about the Libertarian party becoming viable in a Presidential election.

In the past 100 years only two third party candidates managed to have over 15% of the Presidential vote in an election, and both substantially lost. The first was a member of the Progressive Party, Robert La Follette, in 1924 who gained 16.6% of the vote. The next was Ross Perot in 1992, with 18.9%. During that time only one other candidate managed over 10% (George Wallace in 1968) and only 3 others managed to get above 1%. Only two Libertarian EVER has gotten more than 0.5% of the popular vote, and only one has gotten more than 1%.

It’s been over 100 years since a third party last got over the 20% threshold. That was Teddy Roosevelt

The highest was Teddy Roosevelt, 102 years ago, with 27.4%, which also happened to be the only 3rd party in the past century to get over 20%. That was Teddy Roosevelt as a Progressive in 1912 getting 27.4%. That election is notable as it actually contained 4 candidates that polled above 5%. It’s also notable as, like Perot, the combined votes of Roosevelt and his nearest ideological compatriot in the race would’ve won the election.

Electorally, taking EVERY 3rd party candidate of the past century, you come out with a combined 98 electoral votes...not even enough with 100 years of candidates combined to break 100 let alone 270. Even if you included Teddy’s run, you’re still sitting less than 200 total. The last 3rd party member to win any electoral votes was over 40 years ago.

It would be factually wrong for me to suggest it’s IMPOSSIBLE for a 3rd party to be viable in the near future. However, the simple fact is it is highly unrealistic to believe that a third party candidate is going to be viable, IE have a legitimate shot at winning the Presidency, anytime soon. Extremely improbable. A candidate would have to be more successful than the past 100+ years of 3rd parties combined during a time when, in the last 1/3rd of that century, 3rd parties have had their hardest time historically at garnering even a single solitary electoral vote let alone enough to win.

And this was in reference to someone suggesting that a 3rd party candidate just needed to be part of the debates and they'd have a legitimate shot

The Libertarian Party couldn't manage even .5% of the popular vote last year. That's less than half a percent. Same goes for 2004. Guess what, same goes for 2000 as well. Actually, if you add up their percentage of the popular vote for the past THREE Presidential elections you BARELY get over 1% total of the popular vote (1.08%). Look at that again, you've got to add up their votes for the past three elections to even get to 1% of the popular vote. Over the past twenty years, that's 6 elections, they've not even broken 2.5% combined (2.33%) with their highest in that span being half a percent in 1996. That's pathetic.

Even if we assumed that being in the debates would give them...hell, lets go crazy...a 500% bump in their COMBINED results they'd still only have 14% of the popular vote. And that's going over their combined totals from 6 elections. Going off their average, to get to that same measely 14%, would mean that they'd need a 3,500% bump. To get from their average over the past 20 years (.39) to even a THIRD of the popular vote would mean an increase of almost 8,500%. I don't care if they had a debate that was nothing BUT the Libertarian candidate on stage, there's no way in hell that it's going to give them a 500% bump let alone one 17 times that amount.

"Recent" History, ie the past century, is stacked against the notion of a 3rd party truly becoming "mainstream". If anything is likely to happen, is that one of the two major parties will shift to a certain degree in their thinking more so than a 3rd party actually becoming viable on a large scale level.
 
Alright...going to rain on the parade a bit in terms of a third party and why it's historically unlikely that any will ever truly get "mainstream", at least in terms of actually having a chance to attain higher office. This is a slightly updated post of mine prior to the 2012 election when some fanboys were going on about the Libertarian party becoming viable in a Presidential election.



And this was in reference to someone suggesting that a 3rd party candidate just needed to be part of the debates and they'd have a legitimate shot



"Recent" History, ie the past century, is stacked against the notion of a 3rd party truly becoming "mainstream". If anything is likely to happen, is that one of the two major parties will shift to a certain degree in their thinking more so than a 3rd party actually becoming viable on a large scale level.

In order for a third party to gain significant ground (become mainstream) it must draw heavily from both major parties. Any third party that draws only (or mainly) from only one major party will simply fade away as it hands that election to the other major party.
 
And then they graduate and see the real world. They then discover that Econ 101 is not sufficient to describe the real world.

Well, once the two major parties show that their economic policy works then we can talk.
 
I would like to see all of the so called libertarians who are trying to hijack the Republican Party have the courage of their supposed convictions and go their own way supporting a Libertarian Party. And the same for the supposed libertarian voters who somehow someway pretend they are libertarians but manage to pull that R lever when they go into the election booth.

I concur.
 
I'm not American, but from an outside perspective, having in mind the many American opinions I've read, I'd say the most interesting choice would be the (a?) libertarian party.

I've often talked with Americans who are fiscally conservative yet socially progressive, so all they can do is ignoring one preference when voting for "the lesser evil". And some even feel they have no choice at all, being trapped between statist liberal supporters of a "nanny state" and authoritarian big-government conservative supporters of a "daddy state".

So my guess is that a truly libertarian party, especially when it's sufficiently moderate and less focused on ideological purity, has the potential of getting the support of a large number of Americans. More certainly than, say, the Green Party.

But then, third parties will not likely play a role as long as the plurality-based electoral system is not replaced by another, such as proportional representation or so.
 
The Tea Party....because it would pretty much destroy the Republican Party.
 
The Libertarian Party is my preferred choice, and also the one with the biggest chance of becoming a major party. It's already the third largest political party in the United States.
 
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