In their most recent general election the 3rd parties of Britain and America experienced significantly different outcomes. While the Liberal Democrats are now in a coalition the American Libertarian party received 0.99% of the popular vote. The clear failure of 3rd parties to break the monopoly of power held by the Democrats and Republicans can be explained by the electoral system, costs involved and influence of the media.…
This scholarly article discusses Ron Paul’s presidential run in 2008. The author focuses on determining wether or not Ron Paul, who has had a varied history on what party he represents on his ticket, can be considered a political outsider in the traditional party system or as a political outsider in the third party system. Since Ron Paul has ran as a member of the Republican party and as a member of the Libertarian party it is not an easy matter of looking for electoral consistency. This source will be used as a primary reference for any examples involving Ron Pau. It will also be used as a foundational piece for defining those who run under the traditional party system versus those who run as a third party…
According to 2012 Presidential Election results, Incumbent Barack Obama received 50.6% of the national popular vote, with 47.8% for Republican Candidate Mitt Romney, and 1.6% for third party votes and write-ins. That is a .3 point increase for third parties despite the lower voter turnout this year (Bryan 1), which is more than most were anticipating. More than half that, at almost 1% in the national popular vote, (Wachtler 2) goes to Libertarian Party candidate and former New Mexico Governor, Gary Johnson and his running mate, James "Jim" Gray. While this may not seem like much, it is more than the results for all the other third parties combined, making the Libertarian Party the leading third party and most likely the eventual real competition of the mainstream parties or perhaps even the next mainstream party, decades or even just years from now. America is due for a new mainstream party. One must remember that the United States was not always run by Republicans and Democrats, but by Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Whigs, and…
When the United States’ government first started, there were no political parties. However during the 1790s two different parties formed, the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans. What led to the rise of these different political parties though? What led to the rise of the political parties in the 1790s was the different views as to how the government should be run, the different ways of interpreting the Constitution, and how people viewed the Sedition Act.…
Throughout the 1790s the birth of American political parties emerged. Many of Americas founding fathers hated the idea of political parties because they represented political parties came about because of the difference in opinions among the population. The newborn constitution brought about issues such as north and south, rich and poor, and agriculture vs. industries that would revolutionize the way people in America thought, and their beliefs, thus giving birth to political parties.…
During the 1790s, Americans became divided over how much power should be held by the federal government. This time period had a huge impact on the United States as the country had begun to struggle to gain stability. The actions of the nation's leaders, including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson assisted in the formation of different opinions and a split within the population. Around the time of the 1790s, the nation was split between parties, Federalist and the Jeffersonian Republicans, whose political systems were highly impacted by many domestic and foreign affairs that provoked a turning point in the nation.…
He says that the extremes of the two-party system are becoming more moderate, so they are learning to work with each other and compromise. Noonan, a third-party supporter, says the opposite, that the two parties are so polarized as well as the citizens of the United States. Lizza would add that third-parties bring unvoiced issues to the table that is necessary to balance opinion. If Brooks is right, the other two opinions seem less convincing, but they are not insignificant. Personally, I would agree with Noonan that society and government is becoming extremely polarized. However, I don’t think a third-party is the remedy for the stark differences in opinion. Third parties, as Lizza said, do bring some controversial topics to the table, but, again, I don’t think this is enough to reform the strong partisanship in America. Brooks’s thought that the centrist ideology is calming the storm is the only hope we can…
The modern political field is largely dominated by a two-party system of democrats and republicans who have representatives of their party in nearly every form of public office. This is the symbol for the libertarian’s misconception to the public that they because they don’t have large seats in public office it in return means they don’t have a solid argument. This however, is not the case when looking at the size of Democrats and Republicans simply because they have much greater attention from the press to speak policy and ideas, whereas the libertarian party lacks media attention to gain the traction that it potentially has. This lack of representation from the media has led to the suppression of the libertarian party, leaving the publics definition of them to be a simple third party. The libertarian party however offers much more than stealing votes in presidential elections, it offers a solution to the great moral crisis happening in America…
Political parties rose to prominence while others faded into history, but gradually the Republican Party and the Democratic Party rose to occupy the two positions within the party system of the United States all the way into the contemporary era. However, while a two-party system is designed to discourage the rise of alternative third parties, there have been occasions where third parties have risen to challenge the Republicans and Democrats for one of their positions within the political system (Jackson, J. S., 2015). The range of successes of the third party challengers of Republican and Democrat hegemony has varied greatly with some parties managing to secure office in local offices, others having members of their party within the national government, and others managing to split either the voter base of the dominant parties such as in the election of…
The emergence of the second party system in the United States is a dynamic piece of our political history. This term was used as a way of stating the political party systems during the time period of the early/middle 1800’s. Due to separate views and rapidly rising voting interest, this is where the United States ultimately split into the Democratic and Whig Party. Although both parties were still growing at the time, both devised many major philosophies and had very important political figures as their leader.…
Philip Larkin’s poem “Here” is able to use clear syntax, vivid imagery, and clever choice of words to distinctly convey his attitudes towards the four different places he describes in the poem: a bustling city, a large town, a suburban community, and an isolated paradise.…
Historically, Republican and Democrat candidates have been known to ignore important issues and slide to the center for popular votes. In my opinion, there are two semi-viable third-party groups, and still have little hope of winning a general election. On…
Every 4 years, we as Americans, come together in attempt to find the best possible candidate to become our next President. We look for a trustworthy, respectable, and intelligent person who thinks rationally and who agrees with us on most political issues. We have done this 57 times so far, and of all of these men, one most favorably remembered, is Ronald Reagan. Reagan once said that libertarianism is “the very heart and soul of conservatism.” If one of our favorite presidents believed in libertarianism, then we should put someone in office that also believes in libertarianism and they will likely get a similar reputation. Although Rand Paul is running for the Republican Ticket, he tends to incorporate many libertarian ideals into his policies.…
If I had to choose, I would classify myself as a Libertarian. As a Libertarian, you make your own choices and accept the consequences of these choices. When other countries view the United States, they will always say how much freedom we have. Yes, we do have more freedom compared to other countries, but we are still limited on what we can do. Even though we have freedom of speech, we can get in trouble for saying certain things. I believe we should be able to choose what we do and say. I may not agree with a choice someone makes, but ultimately that is their choice. It will affect their life and they will have to live with their choice, not me. For instance, we all have our opinions about abortion. No person is going to change our mind…
Libertarianism plays a large role in my situation. In the time when I was in Grand Junction, I chose to act the way I wanted to and do what I wanted to without anyone telling me I couldn’t do it. I had no constraints to hold me to do anything. I was free to act the way I wanted because I chose to not visit my parents that weekend, as well as eat at the campus cafeteria. Not only that, but I went to my dorm and took a long nap because I wanted to and no one was able to tell me not to go to sleep or that I cannot do that. Libertarians would state that because I did what I decided to do on my own, I am free. Although a lot of the choices were said to be my own, it is questioned to an extent to decide if everything besides that was actually my…