While third parties have never won major elections, their influence has still shifted policy. People should consider voting for third party candidates for an opportunity for deeper, lasting changes, rather than minor policy shifts. People must contend with the growing support for alternative voters.
Third parties often focus on issues that other parties neglect, allowing them to receive greater exposure than they would otherwise. While casting a vote takes only a day, boosting up third parties is a long-term strategy that requires building durable infrastructure — without being co-opted by the interests that have long compromised American democracy.
While it may seem impossible for a third party to take the presidency, they have a chance by stacking small victories. With a bottom-up strategy, they can prove themselves by winning local and state elections and build legitimacy that makes a presidential run plausible.
Since USC is a public university, it sees the effects of politics. State government funding is not without conditions, as this puts the university on the receiving end of state legislation. Members of the state government, including the governor, serve on the Board of Trustees and have control over things such as policies, budgets, funding, and reviewing and approving plans.
A third party could be used to change the direction USC is going, allowing for policies the university might not see under a two-party structure. Currently, the local and state elections of South Carolina lack any strong third-party alternatives; however, with enough support and paperwork, a third-party candidate can gain traction.
Students might feel like four-year spectators to the processes of the university; however, they can hold a lot of power if they are able to channel it. As adults, they can vote in their local, state and national elections and help lobby political officials to make positive impacts.
American student political activism has a long history from the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, the African apartheid, the Global War on Terror and currently in regard to what is happening in Palestine. It’s important that students feel they have a voice in their communities and in their educational institutions.
People often say that students are the future, but students must realize that being the future requires acting in the present. Third parties have played an important part in student activism over the years. Parties such as The Peace and Freedom Party played a role in civil rights and anti-Vietnam protests working for student organizations such as the Students for a Democratic Society.
The most common argument against voting for a third-party candidate is that it steals votes away from one of the other parties. Thus implying that it would help a candidate to win who would have normally been beaten by the other candidate. However, by continuing a system where there are only two choices for candidates, you are automatically giving a candidate a 50% chance of winning in the first place. The so-called "lesser of two evils" approach is not good for the future, as it works to guarantee the same system without building an alternative to it.
While some see a wasted vote, it can also be seen as a protest vote against a system that does not represent every American. Third parties show people that the political spectrum in America is not just conservative and liberal. In fact, the political spectrum in the United States goes far beyond what America's current electoral system can cater to.
If one of the two major parties loses, they will blame the third parties. The major parties may be forced to make compromises with their voters in order to gain enough support for the next election cycle. It is important that voters vote for good candidates that they want to be president, instead of falling for an illusion of choice set by those who already hold power and want to pretend they are giving it to honest folks. For example even though Ross Perot did not win, the Republicans felt like he had hurt George H. W. Bush's chances to win against Bill Clinton. This caused the Perot policy of reducing the deficit to become a key issue for the Republicans.
Third parties are very diverse in the United States. A lot of parties solely focus on the desire to push the country further left or right than what it is currently. On the left, there are parties like the Social Democrats USA, the Democratic Socialists of America, and various communist parties. On the right, there are parties such as the Christian Liberty Party and the Constitution Party.
Some parties focus on specific issues, such as the Green Party which emphasizes environmentalism, the United States Pirate Party that promotes free culture and transparency, and the Transhumanist Party which supports transhumanism.
Third parties are an important opportunity for those wishing to vote outside of the two-party system. Politics affects daily life so much that most people will find it hard to think outside of a Democrat-Republican reality. Not to mention, many people are just settling for a party because their friends, family or community vote for that party or because they believe it is closest to their viewpoints.
This reality is a tool of corporate power in the same vein as selling beauty products, wrestling matches and reality TV. The only difference is that politics affects more than a person’s spending habits or entertainment; it affects their viewpoints and thoughts about the country and the world we live in. Although they lack proven success, third parties will bring fresh ideas and new blood to a political system that desperately needs it.
The importance of third parties cannot be overstated for America, as the two-party system has been allowed to take our country into a downward spiral. We could see third parties as an alternative to strive for a better future.
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