Which US minor parties do you think might get their members elected to important offices and make an impact?

[lpetrich]

Not just elected President, but also elected to Congress and to state offices and to local offices. I'm not talking about candidates who claim affiliation, I'm talking about candidates whom the party members and leaders actively support, as the two major parties' members and leaders do.

 

[Patooka]

Are any of the third parties actually making an effort to be representative officials? Greens and Libertarians are just different flavours of, "we want to complain, but we sure as shit don't want any responsibility."

 

[Politesse]

The system is not exactly designed to allow this. Third parties play an important role in the US as a corrective on the behavior of the major two, but it would be a practical impossiblity for one to budge their way in, unless one of the major two has collapsed altogether leaving an ideological gap to fill wholesale. This has happened several times, but the replacement party then becomes one of the "big two", and is no longer considered a third party.

 

[Valjean]

Until we can make some major changes in the established system, like some sort of proportional representation or ranked choice voting, I think the two major parties have a lock on the system.
We won't be able to vote for whom we want. We're stuck voting for the lesser of two evils.

 

[lpetrich]

I agree that Duverger's law bites. But here in the US, there are many places that are effectively one-party jurisdictions, places where one party consistently wins big. An additional party may be able to compete in such places. Thus being a party like the Parti Québécois ("Quebec Party") in Quebec, Canada.

I voted for the People's Party and the Alliance Party, because they seem the most interested in running non-Presidential candidates. The Libertarian, Green, and Constitution Party seem like borderline cases to me. They have some city councilmembers and the like, but they don't seem to have much interest in pushing non-Presidential candidates. The Unity Party, as it might be called, has shown zero interest in non-Presidential candidates so far.

 

[lpetrich]

Are any of the third parties actually making an effort to be representative officials? Greens and Libertarians are just different flavours of, "we want to complain, but we sure as shit don't want any responsibility."

I linked to the parties' home pages, so you can see for yourself what candidates that they want to support. It may take a lot of digging to get past their kvetching at the two major parties, however.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Until we can make some major changes in the established system, like some sort of proportional representation or ranked choice voting, I think the two major parties have a lock on the system.
We won't be able to vote for whom we want. We're stuck voting for the lesser of two evils.

But this will not happen. Third parties mostly hurt the democrats. Republicans would just never allow this.

 

[skepticalbip]

In U.S. Congress, Rand Paul is a libertarian (though he caucuses with Republicans) and Bernie Sanders is a socialist (though he caucuses with Democrats). - - Both Libertarian and Socialist parties hold state and local offices.

 

[lpetrich]

Rand Paul may have some libertarian beliefs, but he he has been a Republican for his entire political career. It's like calling AOC a Green Party member.

 

[Bronzeage]

Any political system which has an executive office independent from the representative offices, will inevitably become a two party system. There can only be one executive and there's no point in being second or third place. However many parties there maybe, alliances will be formed until two parties achieve some kind of balance. If we want to do away with the two party system, we'll have to eliminate the President and create a parliamentary system.

 

[Valjean]

Until we can make some major changes in the established system, like some sort of proportional representation or ranked choice voting, I think the two major parties have a lock on the system.
We won't be able to vote for whom we want. We're stuck voting for the lesser of two evils.

But this will not happen. Third parties mostly hurt the democrats. Republicans would just never allow this.

Not just the Republicans. Suppressing third parties is one of the few issues both major parties can agree on.

 

[skepticalbip]

Currently, third parties in the U.S. don't win major offices. However they do have a major effect on the platforms of the major parties who try to attract their votes. The Green party and Socialist party have pulled the Democrat party hard to the left. The Libertarian party and Constitution party pulled the Republican party hard to the right. Without pressure (major parties trying to get their votes), the two major parties would become almost, if not actually, indistinguible with both fighting for the middle.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Surrealist Light Workers Party.

Papoon for President!