Will Third Parties Ever Catch On?

Third parties in the U.S., like the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. Do you think they can ever catch on and gain some footing in American politics or do you think they'll just be basically ignored forever? Why or why not?

They don't have the money and heritage, so I don't see it happening anytime soon.

Unless we have a very popular sitting President switch to one of the Independent/3rd parties during his/her second term run and ends up winning and then continues to do a stellar performance in his/her second term. The chance of this happening is next to none though.

It sucks that they can't even enter the Presidential debates.

There's a chance, and it has to do with letting them into the larger debates. There's also a certain amount of federal funding the party receives for the following election if they get a certain percentage of the vote. A few parties have come close to that number, though I forget what it is off the top of my head. All it would take is one splash, and it could create enough of a ripple to make a difference 2, 3 , or more elections down the road.

So it's unlikely, but not impossible.

Originally posted by |King Joker|
It sucks that they can't even enter the Presidential debates.

No real surprise.the establishment is going to make sure that never happens.cant have a third party candidate in there who will actually follow the constitution and serve the people instead of the bankers.the last one that did not follow the lead of his masters,our last REAL president we had not a puppet for the establishemt, paid the price for it on nov 22nd 1963.this is something most people here dont understand which is why i have been gone here for many years.too many in denial of this and dont want to unlearn what they have learned from our corrupt school system.

Originally posted by Mr Parker
No real surprise.the establishment is going to make sure that never happens.cant have a third party candidate in there who will actually follow the constitution and serve the people instead of the bankers.the last one that did not follow the lead of his masters,our last REAL president we had not a puppet for the establishemt, paid the price for it on nov 22nd 1963.this is something most people here dont understand which is why i have been gone here for many years.too many in denial of this and dont want to unlearn what they have learned from our corrupt school system.

that being said,if anybody here voted for Romney because you are unhappy with Obama deservedly so,well then you are part of the problem the country has because its a joke that people say all the time- i dont like Obama but i will vote for romney cause he is the lesser evil of the two. well evil is evil and if you vote for either one,then you are part of the problem.other than the color of their skin,there is no difference between the two.

matter of fact i remember hearing some of the sheople around here say when Obama was first running against mccain them saying they would vote for Obama because of the disater we had under Bush and that mccain would just continue Bushs policys.

well Obama got elected,continued all of Bushs policys, and the same old crap came spewing from their mouths again this time saying they would vote for Romney because of the disaster Obama has given us.

the sheople here at this place and around the country just never learn no matter how many times they go through it time and time again that there is no difference in the two parties. 🙄

It seems very unlikely, which is a damn shame 🙁

Bump. 🙂

Party of Trump seems to be doing pretty good. May've run under the Rep banner, but he's got his own agenda, independent of whatever he says he's gonna do.

Perhaps if there were some sort of crisis and neither leading party offered a solution that the people were happy with while a third was able to.

Originally posted by Mr Parker
No real surprise.the establishment is going to make sure that never happens.cant have a third party candidate in there who will actually follow the constitution and serve the people instead of the bankers.the last one that did not follow the lead of his masters,our last REAL president we had not a puppet for the establishemt, paid the price for it on nov 22nd 1963.this is something most people here dont understand which is why i have been gone here for many years.too many in denial of this and dont want to unlearn what they have learned from our corrupt school system.

Your hilarious conspiracy theories aside, JFK was a terrible president (albeit a good guy with good intentions). His actions precipitated the Vietnam War.

The Libertarian and Green Parties are doing well in the polls, at least relative to how they usually do. Not too surprising when most people aren't happy with Trump & Clinton.

Originally posted by Nephthys
Perhaps if there were some sort of crisis and neither leading party offered a solution that the people were happy with while a third was able to.

Feels like this has already been the case and people simply don't go for the third parties.

Like others have said, if they're allowed in the bigger presidential debates, they can definitely gain traction.

I think someone with am ideology that's solely theirs could. Someone with extreme charisma and not tied to Washington or big business could sweep the elections. Theyd just need elevation. America is fascinated with the little man against all odds scenario.

Actually more i think about it. I honestly think someone with zero experience would be best.

I wonder what would've happened if Bernie joined Jill Stein on the Green Party ticket (which was offered by Stein, btw).

The ascent of Donald Trump is causing many lifelong Republicans to leave the party. Most are fiscal conservatives who could find a home in the Libertarian party.

I could see a scenario in which Republicans lose the presidency and the senate in November, causing enough of these Republicans to bolster the ranks of the Libertarians, making it a viable third party.

However, that would leave the Republican party to the social conservatives alone, which would then make it a minority party. The Republicans and the Libertarians would effectively swap places, so we would still have two parties, they would just be Democrats and Libertarians, and Republicans would be a third party.