This came up in a thread, so I decided to cut the staff a break and bring the debate to it's own thread. :P There are usually two parties who run in the U.S.: Republicans and Democrats, the electoral vote decides who is voted in. But once in a while: A third party comes in and tries to be elected. Usually it's something small: Senate state seat, House seat, sheriff, judge, etc... They also seem to pop up a lot (at least in my state) during the Governor election, and usually once in while a Presidential one. Sometimes they have a chance, sometimes they don't, but it skewers the election each time. Being fair: I like Third Parties, but living in a state where for 30 years of elections for Governor hasn't been majority vote because of a third party taking as little as 2-8% and up to 10-15% of the vote... We've had several problems. Google: Governor Lepage. Voted in twice, read his record so far, and what he was voted in by. If you're not shocked, I'd be amazed. So the question is: Should there be more limitations on a third party joining a major election? Should they have more restrictions to a third party joining? Or should it stay the same?
You're in Maine, huh? Maine is a beautiful state. I can't stand Governor Lepage, though... Didn't he tell the people of Maine that if enough people asked him to resign that he would resign? I heard he got thousands of letters and emails and phone calls asking him to resign but lo and behold, he is still Governor. I actually think that third parties should be free to join the election and I wish that the third party candidates would get as much as airtime as the Democratic and Republican candidates. Stein and Johnson are good choices and I believe that Johnson has (or had, I'm not sure how his recent mishaps like naming a foreign leader he appreciates or "What is Aleppo?" has effected his polls) enough people backing him that he should be taken into serious consideration and be allowed to debate with Clinton and Trump. Part of the reason why I think third party candidates don't make it far in the election seasons is because major news networks don't talk about them enough, so avid news-watchers don't know that there are other possibilities besides Republican or Democrat.
He did, especially since his last incident caused a near anarchy in the Government. If you don't add he blackmailed the university. *he threatened to cancel all funds to the uni if they hired the politician, they were forced to choose between money for the school or a professor* And has done several other questionable acts as Governor. Including racism, tantrums, trips out of the country for diplomacy... (Bahamas or something like that) Trying to stop laws passed from Washington that's Nation law from entering Maine... (Obama care is the biggest example of this. Nation law overrides state every time there's an issue. The Courts at the end are the only ones who can overturn nation law after it's passed.) Threatening to cut all funding for several programs, threatening whoever stands in his way... Firing hundreds of people and covering it up so it wouldn't go public... The list is probably very close to many other bad Governors. There are reasons why people wanted him to resign, what happened was one. He got I think 39% of the vote. Also a third party member admitted the day before the election he didn't have a chance but didn't give a crap to see how many people would vote for him. He got 15% or something of the vote. There has been some great third party politicians. Some even Governor... But at some point it should be removed because of how badly it screws up the election when they DON'T have a chance of making it.
Third parties can't be viable without a solid base. My problem with Jill Stein for instance is how irrelevant she becomes when there isn't a presidential election. You can't campaign for your party every four years on a federal level and ignore the local elections leading up to it; it's not fair to the supporters who actually spend money towards a fruitless campaign. EVEN if they were to win, there's no base in Congress, no local politicians to fall back on for support on party policies, and very little experience to use when it comes to actually getting stuff done on a federal level. I wish we were at a point where third parties were viable, but they have to built from the local level up, not from the federal level down and that's what I see very little off. I have different problems with libertarianism and those are the main issues why I would never vote for Johnson, but the same thing still applies. If you look at other countries, they tend to have more than two parties and there's less obstruction because of how the parties line up with their respective governments, usually a party gets elected, not just a leader from it.
