Originally posted by Karmon
I have one question: How many political relevant parties do you have in the USA?
Are there just Republicans, Democrats and the Tea Party?
There are actually several political parties in the US.
List of political parties in the United
States
The average citizen really only knows of two parties in the US. This is because the US is considered a bipartisan, or two-party government. This
basically means that while, yes, there are other parties in the US, there are only two major parties with political credibility and sway. Officials
running under other parties will rarely be elected, simply because the Republican and Democratic parties are so large and powerful.
Essentially our laws were set up to protect the status quo. They have legislated themselves into power by making it all but impossible for any other
party to qualify under the conditions they have set. The election laws that have been set up do not help third parties. Having runoffs between the top
two in local elections is a help to the established parties.The Progressive party is the only one that lasted for a bit but they won too few elections
to impact Congress.
The Libertarian Party is often referred to as the largest American third party. In 1996, Ross Perot ran for president under the Reform Party, which
he had founded in 1995, and in 2000, Ralph Nader ran for president with the Green Party. Another famous Reform Party politician is the former WWF
Wrestler and Minnesotan Governor, Jesse Ventura.
Another reason the third parties do not get fair representation is that we in the US tend to vote for candidates. In some countries you vote party and
they choose the candidates. So if the Green Party wins 13%of the vote, they get 13% representation and the party chooses who those members are.
