Third Party System on the Horizon?

[Walter Weiss]

With Clinton in office, I can recall very elderly people saying that they never remembered a time like this...how split the country had become, and how hateful the people were toward the president. The elderly in general did not seem to agree with Clinton's antics. The elderly did think that the public should give support to the government, and stand up like good strong Americans working from a position of morality, and not one of hatred.

Later, with the latest Bush in office, the country became split again, and the hatred poors forth as before.

The polarizing factor is Republican / Demorat.

IS THERE NOT ANY CHANCE that with the country now so divided....Americans divided among themselves....that a third political party might gain favor in the eyes of the American people that will close the ever widening gap between us all? Is there any THIRD political party in existance that would have the strength to heal the wounds and protect the nation? Or are we forever condemned to a two-party system?

[Loseirdo]

With Clinton in office, I can recall very elderly people saying that they never remembered a time like this...how split the country had become, and how hateful the people were toward the president. The elderly in general did not seem to agree with Clinton's antics. The elderly did think that the public should give support to the government, and stand up like good strong Americans working from a position of morality, and not one of hatred.

Later, with the latest Bush in office, the country became split again, and the hatred poors forth as before.

The polarizing factor is Republican / Demorat.

IS THERE NOT ANY CHANCE that with the country now so divided....Americans divided among themselves....that a third political party might gain favor in the eyes of the American people that will close the ever widening gap between us all? Is there any THIRD political party in existance that would have the strength to heal the wounds and protect the nation? Or are we forever condemned to a two-party system?

I doubt it for the simple reason that small and new parties never get any media coverage. All of the major media networks are either Liberally or Conservatively biased. None of them would dare stray from their respective parties for fear of giving the other an advantage.

Politics today are run by the media. The American people rely on what they tell us, so they're going to spin everything to meet their political views. I don't think a third party has much of a chance. Unless the prophecies about the Anti-Christ in Revelation were true, but there's no telling that even he (or she) would lead a third party.

[General Septem]

Libertarianism does seem to be coming about in a big way.

[thememan]

With Clinton in office, I can recall very elderly people saying that they never remembered a time like this...how split the country had become, and how hateful the people were toward the president. The elderly in general did not seem to agree with Clinton's antics. The elderly did think that the public should give support to the government, and stand up like good strong Americans working from a position of morality, and not one of hatred.

Later, with the latest Bush in office, the country became split again, and the hatred poors forth as before.

The polarizing factor is Republican / Demorat.

IS THERE NOT ANY CHANCE that with the country now so divided....Americans divided among themselves....that a third political party might gain favor in the eyes of the American people that will close the ever widening gap between us all? Is there any THIRD political party in existance that would have the strength to heal the wounds and protect the nation? Or are we forever condemned to a two-party system?

No.

Unfortunately. One of our greatest faults, in politics, is our two party system. Basically, we have two parties representing all people, even thought that neither party really represents their constituents(Differing areas have different views on their party-The Democratic Party of Minnesota is different than that of New York for instnace, as is the Republican party, and other regions have different views, even though they are of the "same" party). What's more, a two party system is far more susceptible to corruption than a multiparty system. The reason being that you don't need to try and go around lobbying various members of several groups to get them on your side, you only need to lobby a few key, high level members of each party, and they will get the ball moving for you.

There *only* upside to such a system is that hypothetically, they should be more efficient. Unlike in multiparty systems, you don't need to make coalitions, alliances, and such to get things passed. You just need a majority in your party, and a few dissenters from the other, which isn't terribly difficult. Of course, this is only hypothetical, and is rarely the case.

As well, the polarization of parties has existed, to some extent, since the dawn of our nation, with the headbuttery going on at the time of the Federalists and the Democratic-Republican Party.

However, the one thing that few realize is how extremely similar the two contemporary parties are. The only real difference they have with one another is economic attitude, and relatively speaking, they are not extremely different in that regard, when you break it down. Almost anything else is purely talking points to polarize a given demographic against the other party(For instance, people saying Republicans are the "God party" democrats are against God or that all Republicans are Bible-thumpers, both of which are untrue; that Republicans are pro-life, whereas democrats are pro-choice, another untrue statement as there are Repubs who are pro choice, and dems who are pro life; that Repubs are anti gay whereas Dems are pro-gay, another false belief).

So basically, we have a choice between People with Crappy ideas, and People with Shitty ideas(PWC and PWS for short).

They both smell foul, and neither is terribly useful.