Why there won't be a third party president in our lifetimes

[Person Man]

The "black president" thread worked out so well, this seemed like a good idea.

[SamTheEagle]

Because every single one of them always manages to come off as being more than a little bit nutty?

[whisper]

Clarification:

Do you mean someone who is not in the two main parties will never be elected?

or

Do you mean someone who is not a Republican or Democrat will never be elected?

[LifeAct]

The current systems makes a lot of money for top officials in the 2 parties. Combined, the 2 parties pretty much run the country. They will do everything possible to prevent having to split the pie with a third party.

[ElDucky]

I'm pretty sure there's just one party. They have elections to fool you.

[FormLetter]

Because most people who would vote for them convince themselves that they can't win. So they don't. And they don't.

[SirVLCIV]

Originally Posted by FormLetter

Because most people who would vote for them convince themselves that they can't win. So they don't. And they don't.

I just find them to be totally dysfunctional.

I'd like to vote Libertarian. But they just don't seem to 'get it'.

[The Drunken Actuary]

Originally Posted by SirVLCIV

I just find them to be totally dysfunctional.

I'd like to vote Libertarian. But they just don't seem to 'get it'.

If they got it, they'd be democrats.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by SirVLCIV

I'd like to vote Libertarian. But they just don't seem to 'get it'.

The party, or the voters?

The problem with the Libertarian Party is that there aren't enough moderates. Imagine if the Republicans or the Democrats were controlled by the most fervent 5% of their population. The Democrats would look like Chavez and the Republicans would look like the Taliban.

It's a chicken and egg problem. I think there are a lot of moderately libertarian leaning voters who stay out of the political process because there's no one fighting on their side, for true smaller government and more individual rights. They're not drawn to the Libertarian party because they don't think it's politically viable, and so the extreme anarchist wing wields a lot of influence over it. This just makes the party less viable and less attractive to the moderates.

[Person Man]

I don't even care if the third party candidate were Libertarian or not, I'd be happy if anyone outside of the Republocrat Monopoly won. I would have supported Bloomberg with all my fervor. I would prefer Nader to McCain or Obama, and I think Nader's more of a communist than Obama.