The Myth of the Third Party Solution

[TaraJo]

Did you watch the video I attached?

Yes, technically, third parties do have a chance. However, if a third party enters in todays political world, they simply hurt the major political party that is most sympathetic with them by taking votes away from them. I mean, think about it: how much would Obama have loved it if Ron Paul had run on the Libertarian party ticket? He would have won by a much bigger margin, I can tell you that much. And Bush supporters were encouraging Ralph Nader to run in 2000, largely because they knew the election would be close and Nader would take votes away from Gore.

Sounds like a problem with the people voting, not the process.

I still say it's a problem with the process.

Suppose everyone does vote for the candidate that actually matches them best, even if it means taking generally unpopular positions. We'll have each, individual group voting for a different candidate. In the end, our president would be someone who won the election in spite of only getting 20% or so of the vote (less, depending on how many different candidates and/or parties run). If you think the Republicans are pitching a fit now, how do you think people would react if someone became president in spite of 80% of the population voting against them?

Because of that, even far-left liberals such as myself would rather vote for Obama than let a corporate psychopath like Romney take over the white house and it's why Libertarian Republicans are so willing to vote for Romney, simply because they fear Obama inching us towards socialism. We don't vote for the candidate we want, we vote against the candidate we don't want and the way the system is currently set up, that's always how it's going to be (incidentally, it's also why there's always so much negative campaigning from both sides).