inthecloud wrote:TSPKip wrote:Though you may be correct in your assumption, history demonstrates that the third party is not successful due to insufficient numbers of voters aligned with it; and prior attempts have only acted as spoilers for either party.
Maybe things are finally bad enough that independent candidates can compete for Congress and the Presidency. It seems that people are waking up and starting to point fingers at Washington as a whole rather than joining in the partisan blame game. I'm surprised how many extreme left/right people are on this forum still blindly supporting either party as saints. Both sides are dysfunctional beyond belief.
I've been voting independent the last two elections. Hopefully in 2012 my vote will count.
http://www.americanselect.org/
A third party could gain traction today in my opinion but they need to follow a flight plan:
1) Naming/constituents - They need to be the party of the 99%, a party that demonstrates a centrist ideology encompassing a majority of voters rather than hard extremes like our current parties. The Tea Party is a more extreme version of the GOP and is too polarizing to have a shot at the white house.
2) Go for Congress first - A third party stands 0 chance of winning the presidency and will likely just hurt the chances of the party they more closely resemble. To establish a presence and give people confidence to vote for them in larger elections they need to have a reasonably large contingent in Congress first (at least 5-10%).
3) Act fast - Third parties have a good chance of success in times of economic distress when national morale is low and the outlook is bleak. There is a 3-5 year window right now for that, potentially up to 10 years.
4) Money - Social media... #OWS has shown how quickly a movement can raise money today given the presence of the internet.