by Jeffrey Ober

Created on: November 17, 2009   Last Updated: November 18, 2009

The political system in the United States is called a two-party system. And in some areas, the two current parties disagree. However, the one area where you will always find both parties in agreement is in protecting their own political power. This is the primary reason that a third-party candidate will have such a hard time becoming president in the US.

It is hard to put the qualifier "never" anywhere in politics. It might be technically possible for a third-party candidate to become president. Some may argue that third-party candidates have already been elected president (Abraham Lincoln). But I would suggest that by the time a candidate is elected president that is not a member of the Republican or Democrat Party, one of those two parties will not exist. Without a major seismic shift in politics, the Constitution, or the society, there will be only two candidates to choose from for president.

The one thing that career politicians like more than anything else is power. As long as there is a two-party system, it is relatively easy for those politicians to retain power. Through the use of gerrymandering, they can make deals and ensure that individual politicians can retain their own power.

Then, through their willing accomplices in the media, they can continue to perpetuate the self-fulfilling myth of the "wasted vote." This theory postulates that any vote that is not for one of the two major parties is a wasted vote because those "other people" simply cannot win.

When the elections are close, as with the presidential election, the myth expands to claim that any vote for a third party candidate is actually a vote for "the other guy." Enough people buy into this myth so that a third party candidate truly does not have a chance.

Additionally, many states have very restrictive ballot access laws that prevent the consideration and in some cases, even a vote for a third-party candidate. Some states, such as North Carolina, are even so restrictive that if 90% of the votes wrote in one candidate, every single one of those votes would be thrown out if the state elections board (controlled by one of the two parties) so ruled.

There are many third party candidates that have powerful ideas that could change the direction of America. Unfortunately, as long as the current career politicians continue to hold the reins of power, they will ensure that no candidate other than one selected by the two parties will ever have a chance.

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