Third Parties

     The U.S. has a two-party system and it has been that way for over century. Third parties rarely ever win elections, but they can effect what happens in an election. They can draw attention to issues that have been ignored by the two major parties, Democrats and Republicans. The most common third parties are Constitution Party, Green Party, and Libertarian Party.
     The Constitution Party is the third largest party by registered members in America. The Constitution Party is a right-wing political party. The party's goals are to restore the government to its constitutional limits and our law back to its Biblical fooundation. The party's largest focus is on stopping immigration and giving illegal immigrants stricter penalties.
     The Green Party has won elections at the local levels. Most of the peole in the Green Party who have won public office in the U.S. have won nonpartisan elections. John Eder, Audie Bock, and Richard Carroll are the highest-ranking Greens in the U.S. John Eder was a member of the Maine House of Representatives, Audie Bock was in the California State Assembly, and Richard Carroll was in the Arkansas House of Representatives. They emphasize environmentalism, social justice, respect for diversity, peace, and nonviolence.
     The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the U.S. They want to avoid foreign military or economic entanglements with other nations and respect for freedom of trade and travel to all foreign countries. Hundreds of Libertarians have beem elected into public office, and thousands have run for office under the Liberatrian banner.
     I believe that the U.S. should not become a third party system, but we should pay more attention to them and let them get elected into office more often. Third parties have many good ideas, concentrate on improtant issues that are ignored by Democrats and Republicans, and are supported by people all over the country.
     In class we talked about how many people are a part of a third party and how they are not commonly elected into office. We also talked about how the U.S. is a two-party system and how we use a winner-take-all system. If we had a three-party system then many people would be unhappy because on party could get 20% of the votes, the second could get 45% of the votes, and the third would get 35% of the votes. Well the second party would win even though only 45% of the people voted for that party.
     Links:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_party_(United_States)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Party_(United_States)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_(United_States)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_(United_States)