with ralph nader entering the race for the 4th (?) time, i started thinking about the state of 3rd parties in america. currently in the senate we have 49 democrats, 49 republicans, and 2 independents who caucus with the democrats. (the independents are bernie sanders who considers himself a social democrat, and joe lieberman who is a douchebag).

in the house we have 231 democrats and 198 republicans with no independents and six vacant seats.

i don't know exactly how, but i've had people tell me that the way election laws are set up work against third parties. which is totally fucking gay, in my opinion. i assume another huge factor is money.

the way i see it, both parties now have been doing a shit job and fucking over the american people. but they still get votes. so who gives a fuck? if some third party came and started taking seats, maybe these fuckers would get their shit together and start listening to their constituents.

the biggest problem i see is the inevitability of republicans/democrats. sure there are people who like what ralph nader says, but what's the point of voting for him if he isn't going to win? (obviously his reasons for running aren't to win, but that's a whole other thing)

i think ron paul's campaign is pretty significant in politics to come. if an underdog republican congressman with a totally different message can raise $13 million or so and actually do an alright showing, i think the big third parties can do just as well.

i should probably note that i'm not advocating for people to vote for third parties in the presidential election. i think the green party and the libertarian party should focus efforts in areas that may be open to their message (california and a lot of the upper midwest states respectively) and focus on getting house seats. once you take away the air of inevitability it opens up whole new sources of votes and funding.

the problem with third parties is that they fall in between. An for what ever reason people really dont like that. It is the classic "Good" vs "Evil" depending on what side your on, but you never hear anything about the gray. I for one voted independent last election. Cause both parites are made up of assholes.

At this point Nader just annoys me. Take the hint and realize nobody wants you president. This guy splitting the left vote will probably push McCain into office now too, so he's a fucktard. He is also a lot of the reason Bush is in office right now anyways.

He KNOWS he can't get enough support to win, especially this late. Is he intentionally fucking with us?

i wouldn't be surprised, but if obama wins the dem then i am glade he is fucking with the dems. i really dont like obama.

Nader is so egotistical.

He knows he can't win, yet he fucks up progressive causes by stealing votes from the democrat every election.

However, with his widespread name recognition he COULD become a congressman or something along those lines and actually do something to advance his goals, which for the most part are pretty laudable. So why doesn't he?

because he is a insane old rich guy

I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT, I'M ECCENTRIC

The thing about third parties is that the political climate really is up against them. Most third parties are single issue of ideological parties which are too far to the left or the right of the mainstream, or break away parties from Democrats of Republicans which usually only survive for a single election season. The Democratic party and the Republican party are also entrenched in the country and have been for more than 100 years, and have passed laws, like campaign finance reform, to makes it difficult for minor parties.

also, there is the point of money, the major parties are well known and are good at getting money, where as third parties are often seen as fringe movements and people are not ready or willing to give them their money in support. It takes tons of cash to run for office. (when I was considering a run for congress I was told I would need a "war chest" of 10 million dollars by a local party official) then there are requirements for signatures, and requirements for amounts of money donated to the campaign from individual contributors before you can get on the ballot as a serious candidate. Then there is also the fact that often incumbents often hold their seats unless they fucked up really bad, in the case of the 1994 and 2006 elections where the voters were fed up about issues (the '94 AWB, and the Iraq war) and decided to give them the boot. it is a lot easier for incumbents for keep their seats than it is for a challenger to take it, especially a third party.

Nationally, I don't think third parties really have a chance due to the diversity of the nation. Unless of course it is a break away party (say for example the Ron Paul or Obama supporters decide to split from their respective parties). However, I believe that locally third parties could be established to take local control. Then, much like the Democratic party which is mostly a coalition of ideological and single issue groups, the third parties could organize into regional blocks, and perhaps slowly gain national prominence.

As for Nader... I think he is an asshole. However, I think the real guy to wait for to run is Michael Bloomberg of NYC, who has BILLIONS of dollars of his own money to spend and has split with the Republican party.

I have a problem with a lot of politicains because most of them are older, richer, and come from wealthy or privileged families. How are they expected to speak for the average family in north america? We've got it a little easier up in the north because we have a few more parties to vote for, and a few of them are very similar in the kind of things they believe in. The conservative and liberal(don't let this name fool you!) are pretty similar in the sense that they are typically more conservative (Canadian conservative isn't really.... all that conservative....) Where the NDP part is more left wing. Then we have the Green party, The Marijuana party, Bloc de quebec....(I think that is how they spell it....) and independents up the ass. So there is something to float everyones boat!

It dosen't seem so.... Red Vs Blue... in Canada

In america it's asses vs fat fucks (if'n ya missed that one, take a peek at the animal icons used by each party), that's all anyone cares about. It's easier to be bipartisan. There's only two choices as far as you're concerned, yes and no, blue or red, good or bad, fisting or anal. Two choices is easier to come to a decision with when your collar is blue and your time to listen to people braying on about various things is far too short. When you've got one of those fancy white collared shirts, you've got too much money to care about other factors.

It's the college student population, for the most part, the connected ones, the ones with nothing better to do BUT be interested in alternative views. They're the ones that get sucked in by the third parties because, frankly, it's too mainstream, too "lame" to like what everyone else likes... And when you've got nothing but time on your hands, what else is there to do but care about shit other people are too busy supporting the economy and social infrastructure to even begin to give a rat's ass about.

---

As for in canada... We's just too fuckin wacky from the cold of winter up here. We'll vote for the guy who has the nicest shirt if he doesn't kill too many babies. I've seen elections go all sorts of ways.

The conservatives are liberal.
The liberals are corporate.
The NDP are farmers.
The Canadian Reform Aliance Party are CRAP (or whatever the fuck they call them selves these days).
The Bloc Quebecois... Tabarnak de merde de calis de fucking Habs lost their last game! Allez y et burn down la calis espece de shit town, Montreal!
The Green Party really doesn't care too much about the environment (their flyers and pamphlets were made of non-recycled paper last election).
The Marijuana Party wants to go get some fuckin Taco Bell and hit up a Harvey's for a fucking burger.

The others? Well, they really don't matter.

LMAOAO

so what you're implying is that the marijuana party is considered one of the legit parties in canada

that owns canada owns

In Canada Pot isn't the Devil. The MJ Party actually have a strong platform and reasonable election goals. They actually get votes and almost won a seat in parliament last election, lol... That's legitimate enough to be put on the list.

i saw the marijuana party leader guy outside this apartment building once
he had puke on his sweater

yea you dont get arrested v often for weed

I believe in voting for whoever is going to do the least harm - however I remain deeply suspicious of anyone who would seek public office.