Ain't No Party Like A Third Party
By Christopher Weber
Feb 28th 2008 1:02PM

Filed Under:eRon Paul, 2008 President, Ralph Nader, Michael Bloomberg

It's a shame Mike Bloomberg has decided against running for president. He's a smart guy and would be a strong candidate. I'm still holding out hope that Ron Paul will throw his hat in as an independent, or maybe as a Libertarian.

And I'm thrilled that the much-maligned Ralph Nader announced he'll be around making a stink for the next eight months. (I'm not one of those weenies who blame Nader for the woeful Bush administration. They are too cowardly to admit that Al Gore ran a crappy race in '00 and probably didn't deserve to be president.)

Here's hoping the Natural Law Party and the Marijuana Party and the Greens and the Whigs all run somebody for the White House too. We need more presidential choices, not fewer. Obviously all third party candidates are looooong shots, to say the least. But winning isn't the only point. The idea of this democracy is to find the candidate that best represents my views and positions. What are the odds that person is always either a Republican or Democrat?

Besides, anything to potentially shake up an inflexible political system that gave us two Bushes and possibly two Clintons in less than two decades is good for the country.


Third party candidates demand real debate. They bring stark contrast to the slick money machines that are the GOP and Dem campaigns. And they offer the promise of crucial, fundamental change within the fixed order in Washington. Viva choice!


http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/02/28/aint-no-party-like-a-third-party/

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looks like i am not the only one tired of the same ol same ol

said it before and i'll say it again, i may not agree with everything he has to say but i do like Ron Paul.

well i hope he goes for it

will give the non-voter no excuse

other than bn lazy

but in reality that is the only excuse for not voting

what do you think would happen if everyone that did not vote

went to vote and wrote in their own name

thus giving no one a clear majority

there may be a clear leader

but no one would have a majority

"Obviously all third party candidates are looooong shots, to say the least. But winning isn't the only point. The idea of this democracy is to find the candidate that best represents my views and positions. What are the odds that person is always either a Republican or Democrat?

Third party candidates demand real debate. They bring stark contrast to the slick money machines that are the GOP and Dem campaigns. And they offer the promise of crucial, fundamental change within the fixed order in Washington. Viva choice!"
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adj4u

I copied/pasted part of your post. You are correct in that Third parties rarely win national elections. Also, a major point you made is Third parties can draw attention to issues that may be ignored by the majority parties. If the two dominating parties find the issue(s) brought up play favorably with the voters, either the Republicans, Democrats or sometimes both may adopt the issue into its own party platform.

You mention that Third parties demand real debate and are a contrast to the established parties. I wholeheartedly endorse that mindset. When the people cast votes for Third parties that clearly have no chance of winning, those voters are really casting their votes as a protest vote. I want to touch on something you did not bring up, and that is Third parties sometimes help with voter turnout since they bring more people to the polls.

I ignored Bloomberg since he is not my choice, too liberal. Ron Paul? Isn't he the guy with the big ears married to the "teenager" who's about a head and a half taller than he!? However, I will say, if we ever get invaded by aliens, I want Ron Paul for President since this guy not only believes in aliens, but he also saw them!

if everyone that thought voting

was a waste of time cast

that protest vote they would win

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cannot argue with that reasoning

Well, they don't, and won't, so
welcome to the real world.