3rd Party Examples

Socialist Party of America; The Third Party Example

Although being losers and a consistent Underdog in major elections, third-parties can make significant contributions to those elections in the United States. The Socialist Party of the Year America was capable of winning elections but never did, though day had meaning for influential thoughts and ideas on National politics. There was a brief period of limited success at the beginning of the 20th century, then a sharp decline occurred. At its peak, socialists held 1200 public offices, sent one member of their party to congress, and had an impressive roster of 118,000 dues paying members. Then they stopped expansion and just disappeared out of the American political spectrum. What happened?

In the beginning of the parties’ lifespan it had drawn support from many groups including unions, reformers, and immigrants. Although this party drew major support, it refused to work with other parties or even allow its members to vote for the other parties. From the party start in 1901 the beginning of World War 1 the party had a number of officials throughout the states. While the parties’ perspectives ranged from radical socialism to social democracy it still gained major support. A major part of this parties’ ideology was formed by the Social Democratic party in which was formed by a group led by Eugene V Debs and Victor Berger in 1898. Two years later, Debs ' ran for president and the Socialist Labor party led by Morris Hillquit in 1901, united with the Social Democratic Party to form the Socialist Party of America.

The party did not show much strength in the election until 1910 and 1911,

Over the years in America, Democrats and Republicans have reached a supreme level in the political world. Americans will typically only vote for Democrats or Republicans as this is the way the majority does. Across the span of the parties’ life, they have built up enough funding to fight other National campaigns at a level needed for success. They have also built up links with businesses, organizations, and people. In the American election system winner takes all which guarantees any third party no chance of winning. To succeed in an election all you need is a majority of the Electoral College votes. Only the two parties will ever have a chance again in this due to the fact the electoral college is made up of Democrats and Republicans. The major parties can adopt and shape their ideas to their liking, anything that a third-party that public likes can be adopted by a Democrat or Republican. The media is only interested in political parties gaining major support, starving other parties of publicity. The media is also driven by money which they know the Democrats and Republicans have a high chance of winning, so they report on them. Majority of these factors the Socialist Party of America had yet they still had not won a presidential