Third Party Dilemma in the United States - Essay Example

Why has there not been a Viable and Continuous Third Party in the US? Introduction In historical and political terms, America has seen more than fifty political parties come on its democratic stage at various times. Of these parties, nearly forty have sponsored candidates who have run for the highest publically elected office in the country (Rosenstone, 1996). However, in the modern American political landscape and nearly every major candidate from the mid-1800s onwards has come from either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party (Nawazota, 2004). It is an interesting question indeed when we consider that the American culture and the American people thrives on the idea of choice in everything from their automobiles to their flavors of ice-cream yet they only have two options for political parties. Analysts such as Weber (2005), Reynolds (2006) as well as James (2008) suggest that this shows a fundamental flaw in the American political system as having only two parties reduces choices for voters and may even disenfranchise some individuals. In fact, they present a long list of the reasons why America needs a third party if not several parties acting in the political field but they also provide reasons for why the American culture, the American political system and even the American voters themselves are geared in such a manner that a third party becomes nearly impossible. Why No Third Party? The reasons for the lack of a viable third party in America are many and complex but the first and most important reasons seems to be the American political system itself (Ambrose & Lamm, 2006). The two-party system is entrenched so deep in the political system that any new or independent party will find it difficult to operate on a national level in order to gain the support it needs to push a candidate into the white house. Just to get a nomination, there is the process of handling the Electoral College, the state caucuses and other influences which can predispose voters towards one party or another (James, 2008). Even the state caucuses are considered to be nothing more than a process of king making which ensures that ultimate power belongs to one representative of the Democrats or the Republicans. Voters have to register as belonging to one of the two parties and any other party affiliation lists the voter as being undecided about the parties or being an independent voter. In several states, this essentially excludes the voter from voting in the primary election process which means that after the primaries are over, the independent voter gets nothing more than a chance to pick from two alternatives s/he didn’t want in the first place (James, 2008). Under these circumstances, third parties may find it difficult to stick around to compete for the grand prize. The campaign finance rules which are applicable to the presidential race mean that only political parties who obtained a certain number of votes can ask the government for financial assistance in their campaign which means a third party would have to be a ‘successful’ third party before it can seek funding (Nawazota, 2004). Without this funding, the media has little reason to pay attention to the third candidate and without attention, there is little chance of the third party in getting their man or woman into the president’s seat. Additionally, in certain states, being a candidate from a third party would mean that the person’s name could not be included in the pre-poll ballot and would be largely excluded from scientific polls and media conducted polls that highlight the most popular candidates. When a candidate’s name is not mentioned, there is little chance of that candidate being elected (James, 2008). The media certainly plays its part in creating and continuing the two party system but that is essentially a part of the American culture. James (2008) discusses the current ‘two party system’ of the Democrats and the Republicans in a cultural context and says that the two party situation is likely to stay in America because: “Americans are now bound to it as a cultural institution, and like any cultural institution, its architecture is set and will naturally resist any change. For most Americans, its simply easy and does not require any real thinking or innovation. The danger here is that the scope of the current two-party system will almost certainly become even more narrow over time (James, 2008, Pg. 1)”. A large part of that culture is influenced by the media which James (2008) strongly blames for why a third party cannot flourish in America. He gives the example of the present American presidential candidate and reports that the candidates who are given the most amount of coverage are those who belong to either of the two parties. There are three candidates who are pushed to the public all the time while the rest remain in the shadows and those from third parties are largely ignored. Essentially, the media gurus preselect their favorite candidates depending on their own analysis of their popularity and then continue to cover their campaign extensively (James, 2008). Without being fair and objective as the media is supposed to be, the American media puts on what is called, “The most predictable of all dog and pony shows, year in and year out (James, 2008, Pg. 1)”. When the channels hold political debates between the candidates, they only invite members of the two major political parties and the rest are marginalized. For example, instead of focusing on the campaign agenda of Ralph Nader, the interviewers were more interesting in knowing why he was running for elections in the first place knowing that he had little chance to win (Nawazota, 2004). In essence, the media feeds the people the idea that there are only two parties in America and the Americans believe that and have to support one of the two or be left out of the debate on who is going to govern the country next. Nawazota (2004) focuses more on the political process itself as the reason for why there has not been a continuous and viable third party in America. She also includes the parties themselves as the part of the problem when she notes that parties such as the Green Party, the Reform Party, Libertarians, the Constitution Party and the Natural Law parties do not gather strong candidates and thus voters cannot take them seriously. In fact, one of the few times that a third party made headlines was the 2000 American presidential elections where Ralph Nader was an independent candidate from the Green Party. In these elections, the Green Party got more than two million people to vote for them yet the post election commentary showed that the Green Party merely took votes away from Al Gore Leaving George W. Bush to rule the land. In essence, the presence of a third party was not seen as a positive sign but rather a negative situation since the vote bank had essentially been broken up and this had left the Democrats feeling left out of the race (Nawazota, 2004). There is a also the problem of the agenda of the parties since the democrats and the republicans appear to be as vague on different topics so as to include all those who differ from them within their campaign. On the other hand, the minor parties appear to have focused a agenda which makes it difficult for them to appeal to all individuals. For example, The Green Party platform centers on the on the environment as a focal point, while Libertarians suggest that the role of the government should be reduced dramatically. These parties have met with some minor success when it comes to local and state elections but at the national level the only players are Democrats and the Republicans who dominate the scene (Nawazota, 2004). Of course this does not mean that it is an impossible for a third party to come up and take the Americans by storm since in 1992, The Reform Party managed to take nearly twenty percent of all votes with Ross Perot as their candidate for President. The issue they focused on was the budget deficit which had previously been largely ignored by the candidates but since then has become an essential question for future frontrunners. Essentially, the American third parties do manage to highlight their issue but the handling of the issue is left to the president who is either a Democrat or a Republican (Nawazota, 2004). However, at the present time, there is only one American member of congress who is an independent and only one American senator who is neither a Democrat nor a Republican. The corridors to the doors of power in America are based on historic affiliation with one or the other party and this affiliation brings success. In this manner, third parties can act as a flash in the pan to bring one or more problems to the attention of the people. For example, the Socialist party helped the women’s suffrage movement, helped enact child labor laws and created the forty hour work week which is still used today (Nawazota, 2004). In certain cases, the voters may not support the third party even if their agenda or their candidate appeals to them since the voters may think that the vote would be wasted on this candidate. Focusing on a single personality or a single problem facing the nation already places them on a weak footing and since the voters themselves know that the party has little chance of winning, they might ignore the party altogether (Nawazota, 2004). The American political system has no points for coming second place and even with the slimmest of majorities; a presidential candidate can take all the points offered by a state which means that the rest of the votes are for naught. Conclusion In conclusion, it is easy to see that the reason why there have not been viable and continuous third parties in the American political system have to do with the culture, the politics and the media of the American nation. As these elements continue on their set course, it becomes even more unlikely that new third parties can emerge to take up a position of superiority over the currently established champions of American politics. For the foreseeable future, it appears that the Americans will have to be satisfied with voting for either a Democrat as a candidate or a Republic as a president. The rest who do not feel any affiliation which the candidates presented to them by the parties will have no choice but to not vote or be part of the democratic process. Works Cited Ambrose, S. & Lamm, R. 2006, ‘Why America needs a new political party’, [Online] Available at: http://www.americanreform.org/Lamm/new_political_party.html James, P. 2008, ‘A Third Party will not be allowed in the US... yet’, [Online] Available at: http://www.nolanchart.com/article2816.html Nawazota, K. 2004, ‘Third Parties in the U.S. Political Process’, [Online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2004/politics101/politics101_thirdparties.html Reynolds, G. 2006, ‘A third party possibility’, [Online] Available at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12132529/ Rosenstone, S. et. al. 1996, Third Parties in America, Princeton University Press Weber, C. 2008, ‘Aint No Party Like A Third Party’, [Online] Available at: http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/02/28/aint-no-party-like-a-third-party/ Read More