Pros And Cons Of The Third Party System

Third parties in the United States do not win, but they tend to keep elections interesting. Although third parties bring in votes for themselves, a majority of them have extreme views on issues. These types of views cannot put a party at the top of a nation that mainly consists of moderate individuals. America has one of the most advanced democracies and as a result has developed the two party system. The reason why a two-party system overpowers a three-party system is because, ideally, the constitution only has two sides to it, the opposing and the supporting. There are numerous third parties, the most successful one being the Libertarian party. While the United States is largely a two party system, third parties have been around for hundreds

In 2008 fifty parties, aside from the democratic and republican party, ran at least one candidate in the general election. Third-party candidates face many challenges when it comes to running. The main challenge presented is the Electoral College. A candidate must reach 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the Presidential election. The Electoral College is composed of U.S senators and the House of Representatives. In the 112th Congress (2009-2010), 98 out of 100 senators and all 435 representatives in the House of Representatives affiliated themselves with either the democratic or republican party. So, any third party candidate wanting to win the Presidential election would have to win over members of the Electoral College who affiliate themselves in one of the two major parties. However, a third party candidate does have a considerably better chance at winning a seat in the House of Representatives or as a senator. For example, although Senator Bernie Sanders has affiliated himself with the democratic members of both the house and the senate, he was one of the few senators to be considered independent in the 112th Congress. When it comes to third parties running in Presidential elections, they are known to “steal” votes that may be crucial to either the Democratic or Republican Party. So in other words, third parties are known to turn winners into losers and vice

John Adams said, “There is nothing I dread so much as the division of the Republic into two great parties, each under its own leader.” In 1826 the first third party, the anti-masons emerged which was established on a conspiracy theory that involved the secret society known as the Masons. Throughout the course of history, third parties usually emerged in the presence of a political view that both parties leave in a void. The anti-masons consisted of new voters who were against the American establishment. Voters believed there was a conspiracy theory where only those members of the American establishment and Mason society could advance in law, business or anything. In the election of 1832, the anti-Masons put up a candidate, William Writ. Writ ended up taking votes from both major party candidates and the anti-Masons won 8% of the total votes. However, due to extreme anti-masonic pressures the number of members dramatically dropped. In 1860 the first and last third party candidate the United States had. Although Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, the era in which he ran was dominated by the Democratic and Whig parties. The election was a four-way race and Lincoln received 39.8% of the popular vote, the lowest percent a president taking office has ever had. His success while in office led to a third party replacing one of the major parties at the time. During the 1890’s, dozens of third parties emerged.