Why I Don't Take the Current 3rd Parties Seriously (and how I could)

*Originally written in 2016, I don't see any obvious reasons to change anything other than potentially candidate names and a couple of minor edits for clarity.*

I think there's a reasonable argument to be had for the American political scene to contain both Libertarian and Green platforms (whether I agree with their positions or not is irrelevant to the point below), none of what I say is about the basic philosophy of either party.

However, any party that is asking for a serious vote has a responsibility to be a serious party, and I see little to no intent to actually govern from either party.

Johnson and Stein make a lot of ruckus about not being taken seriously by the media, or the Commission on Presidential Debates, and by voters, and it’s certainly easy to find people who are unfairly dismissive of the views of the party, however... 

There are a variety of things a party can do to be taken seriously.


They can:
  • Know the rules about inclusion in debates (as set over a year ago) and build strategies specifically around meeting those thresholds
  • Be aware of the 4% popular vote threshold for receiving federal funding and build a multi-cycle strategy to overcome that threshold and use funds wisely in subsequent elections
  • Run candidates for offices in local, state, or other Federal elections.
And while you can't blame Johnson or Stein for the lack of movement of either party 10 or 20 years ago, they are, however, the same people at the top of the ticket as 4 years ago and clearly leaders within their parties, and thus, able to suggest/execute any one of many strategies that could make them viable contenders for office.

Are 3rd Parties Disadvantaged? 

Yes, it's true, though the biggest disadvantage comes from our "plurality rules" voting system which favors two parties in a given area over time. However, there's no specific reason that hurdle must favor the SAME two parties across the country. Libs/Greens certainly face a funding disadvantage compared to Dems/Reps, this is true, but it's certainly not impossible to unseat one of them in some parts of the country.

My current home in Massachusetts presents me with dozens of uncontested elections, where no Republican bothers to run against the Democrat. It's unfathomable to me that at least SOME Greens couldn't win in our state legislature among the New England liberals. And it certainly seems like some Libertarians could win in Wyoming, Alaska (the Libertarian Party's single electoral win, a single seat in a state legislature), or another Mountain West state. There are plenty of effectively single-party states in our country that could easily allow one of the current "other" parties to become the SECOND party.

Voting Systems Are a Thing a Serious Third Party Could Address

For that matter, nothing requires all local/county/state (or federal elections) to use first-past-the-post/plurality voting systems. An organized party of just a few thousand people could conceivably agitate for changes to rank order/transferable vote systems or a proportional state legislative body.

Obviously doing any of these things would not be easy, but if either party had any interest in making its policies happen, these would be the kinds of things you would do. And given that they've made literally no effort to do any of these things...

If you treat your own party as a protest vote or a vanity project, I see no reason not to treat the party that way.

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