I strongly believe that the Republicans and Democrats monopolize the presidential seat. Although there are other parties, none of them get the air play or respect from the general public as the ones supported by these two parties. Although I am a Democrat, it would be nice for once to see someone come out of left field and beat the two reigning parties. Of course, this individual would have to be a billionaire or something to compete. However, I think it would be fun and a good change of pace for Americans.
Anything is possible. It simply takes enough people to change their voting habits. This is evidenced in Greece by the rise of leftist Syriza and the far-right Golden Dawn parties. Also the meteoric rise of UKIP in Britain and Front Nationale in France. Jesse Ventura advocates 'voting for anyone other than the two 'Twix parties', and if enough people do it, shockwaves will be felt.
Nothing personal, but I'm not exactly excited about fascist groups gaining in popularity in Europe. Those have lead to...problems in the past. As for a secondary party in the US, not a chance. The laws are rigged against them for debates and it would take a complete party collapse for a third party to get any piece of the limelight. I'm also more willing to bet it'll be a far right party compared to one more to the left.
Absolutely agree. I was just instancing that anything is possible. The Whigs (forerunners of the Liberals), were the dominant party in Britain for decades and the Tories were their only opposition. The Labour party sprang up in the early 20th century from grass roots working class people who were unable to get their voices heard via the traditional Whigs. It was a huge sea change and totally unexpected. Anything can happen when sufficient numbers of people feel they are not represented. The UKIP phenomena is a direct result of the anger felt toward the ConLib coalition and also the distrust of the Labour party. Similar to the U.S, many UK and European people see the differences between the main parties as being relatively minor on major issues, (both controlled by Corporate, or their own interests) hence the Left Twix Right Twix analogy. A choice between two evils if you will, which is fundamentally no choice at all. Initially this dissatisfaction then translates into protest votes for smaller 'no hope parties' which people think they will have better luck influencing and which then magically take centre stage. Never say never
I agree with libertarians on many issues. My main concerns with libertarians are the views I hear some state on foreign policy and a tendency I see among some to over-simplify some rather complex things.
Politics is very unpredictable and change of power could happen when you least expect it. I live in a nation where her people never thought it possible to have more than one political party. Today we are doing well in a multi-party nation. Things happen when you keep the faith; it will come your way.
The US system makes it very hard for anyone but a Democrat or a Republican to become president, but I think it could be possible for an independent Libertarian with a LOT of money to win at some point once public disillusionment with politicians hits a critical point. I don't see a Green candidate doing so any time soon, though - there simply aren't enough Americans who are interested in green issues, or even acknowledge that science is valid or important.
I could see a Libertarian winning if they're running under the Republican label. Someone such as Rand Paul. But someone running under the Libertarian Party label likely won't win anytime soon. The green party is way too extreme and fringe to field a serious presidential candidate.
