Pros And Cons Of Third Parties

Throughout the history of politics there have always been political parties that are more popular than others. The Republican and Democratic party as of the last one-hundred and fifty years or so have been the titans of the American electoral system. Seats in the Senate, House of Representatives, state political positions, and even the Presidency have been dominated by either one of the two political parties. Third parties in America have been around for as long as there has been politics. They are born sometimes from radical takes on policy. Whether that be bank reform, budget cuts, healthcare, welfare, or drug illegality, you can often find glaring differences between those in the major parties than those who choose to affiliate themselves

Close primaries essentially make sure you pick either one of the two major parties to affiliate yourself with. This forceful push into partisanship is glaringly political bullying. If the lack of quality candidates were not enough, third party members have to overcome this seemingly unbreakable barrier. Quality candidates are considered to be candidates who have held some form of office, congressman or senator. With the underwhelming representation of third party representation in Congress, quality candidates for third parties are very few and far between. Schraufnagel (2011) states, “Better to cast a vote for the lesser of two evils or the dominant political party that is closer to your policy preferences” (19) this stands out because it is how most people without political allegiance tend to vote. They can be satisfied with helping a major party candidate tier win or lose rather than casting their vote for someone who is in their eyes irrelevant to the bigger picture. Voters get out and vote for a reason, to feel like their vote matters, and if they feel like they’re voting for someone without a chance, they feel their vote doesn’t matter. Noted by Schraufnagel (2011) for political scientist and those more in-the-know, the problem for third party candidates that is in the forefront remains to be ballot access. Along with ballot access, a main problem in the third party getting on the ballot is their inability to keep up with the work that their major party competitors can put in (p. 35). To generate that amount of manpower, one must have adequate backing and funding, two things that are difficult to come by for members of third parties. The fall of this party representation is in correlation with the introduction of the Australian (secret) ballot. The secret ballot is the form of voting we see today, all choices for office on the same ticket. Gone are the days as Schraufnagel (2011) puts it, “outhustle” (p. 21)