With the next presidential election looming over us all, many have asked if the American people have any other options for candidates. This question is rightly asked considering the two major parties, Democratic and Republican, have grown increasingly polarized since the 1960s. Since then, a third of the American population has refused to identify with either party, labeling themselves an Independent. Many people have misconceptions about third parties as being the moderate party of the Democratic and Republican parties. Rather, third parties merely design their agendas around what the other parties are not willing to talk about, or offer a radically different stance on an issue the other parties have discussed.
A major part of why third parties are so unsuccessful is the lack of support from voters. This problem seems to keep its grip on the American political atmosphere by political socialization where parents pass on their political ideals to their children. If roughly two thirds of the American people identify with either of the two major parties, that leaves only one third of the population that they have a chance of attracting (not to mention these one third usually vote with a party in mind in the general election). In addition to this one third of undecided Americans, third parties need many more voters, which means having to convince some people to leave their party loyalty behind and trust in a very unorthodox institution to make it all the way to the White House. Sounds easy, right?
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In addition to the lack of a voter base, it could be argues that third parties could expect even more congressional gridlock than the two major parties. In 2008, it was so secret that congressional Republicans' major agenda was making sure Obama was a one-term president. This opposing party suppression happens quite often in Washington, but imagine what it would be like to not only have one party out to destroy a party's dominance, but two! This specific problem is a catch-22 because in order to fix the situation, the American people would have to elect third party or independent congressional members that could support a third party in the executive branch, but making way for third parties from the inside of Congress out is extremely difficult. This would require a nationwide grassroots movement to overthrow a two-party dominance in American politics, which has never been done before. In order to break the two-party dominance, it seems one would have to dismantle the whole Congress, considering day-to-day things such as floor time, interest group organization, appointments, are all based on party-identification.
