Let's take a trip back in time. The year was 2000. Now President George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore were in one of the most heated elections that the United States has ever seen. The race boiled down to one state: Florida. With the pressure of butterfly ballots and Democrats crying foul about voter suppression, both parties were in an intense deadlock for the White House. But on November 27, Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris officially certified George W. Bush as the "winner" in Florida by 537 votes. Florida has a total of 18,000,000 people, and the election boiled down to 537 votes. Incredible if you ask me. But we are not talking about who won in Florida.
The question is why did Gore lose in Florida? My personal opinion, held by a number of reputable websites after the election and by many Democratic strategists, is that Ralph Nader stole the election from the Democrats. Yes, Stole! Around 97,000 people voted for Nader in Florida, a majority of whom most likely would have voted for Gore if not presented with the opportunity to vote for a third-party candidate. So how do we allow third parties to properly express their ideas without granting them the power to somehow skew an entire election?
Although third parties rarely ever succeed in winning a political office, they do many great things for our country. They bring up issues that the top two parties may not have had their attention on. In other words, they allow for an increased focus on oddball topics and topics that aren't prevalent in mainstream society. But, as witnessed by the 2000 Election, we need to find a way to allow third party candidates to get their ideas and policies out into the political spectrum without ruining elections of the two-party candidates.
I recommend that we have specialized third party debates, or not really debates, but discussions. This could be a place where the top 3 third-party candidates could discuss what each one of them would do with the United States if they had the opportunity to govern. Although some of their ideas may be radical at times, they ultimately have many great ideas that get overlooked because of low support levels. If granted the opportunity to have media coverage of their ideas and to transmit their ideas to the American people on national television, third parties may feel much more content with how they are treated.
Third parties are plagued by three main things: Low to no media coverage, little fundraising opportunities, and low support levels. If the media actually showed any clips of Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, or even Ron Paul (all of whom I respect tremendously for their determination and hard work), they may have a greater chance of having their voices heard. But the media's monopoly on Americans minds and television screens does not allow for any third-party to have a chance.
What do you think? How can the American Party System reform in order to support third party candidates?
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