third parties

The recent discussions about third party candidates here on ProU got me thinking. Sure, I'd entertain the notion of voting for a few third party candidates, but that's just not very realistic. A vote for a third party is a vote which is wasted, and nobody here can contest that. The winner of the upcoming presidential election will be Obama or McCain; the minor party candidates and independents do not stand a chance.

Third parties, as we are all by now aware, are the root of all evil. They undermine our political system and take away much deserved attention from the phenomenal and deserving Democratic and Republican parties. Thanks to people who voted for Nader in 2004, Kerry lost the election and the evil tyrant Bush won.

So, my history class the other day featured a discussion of the "Reverend Wright Controversy" and the current election, in which it came up that I, a self-described left-winger, didn't like either of the frontrunner Democrats. After class, I spent a while talking to my history teacher about American politics. The following points came up:

In the United State's electoral system, there are many parties, each competing for the votes. The two main parties generally get so much of the vote, due mostly to their army of loyal voters, and as such, many people feel it is not worth voting for the third party. These people do not realize the true purpose behind what is today the third parties.