by Jeremy Flint

Created on: March 11, 2008   Last Updated: March 19, 2008

Minor party candidates (presidential hopefuls not officially affiliated with the two major parties, the Democrats and Republicans) have always been present in presidential elections, but have only recently had any degree of success or recognition. However, despite being able to raise large sums of money via grassroots campaigning, and receiving large amounts of visibility and recognition, a third-party candidate will never truly be a wholly viable presidential option to the populace.

Recently, with candidates like Ron Paul and, to a lesser degree, Ralph Nader receiving large amounts of grassroots attention, the 3rd party candidate has come to be viewed as a presidential possibility. However, while supporters of the minor party candidate tend to be more fervent and even fanatical in their support, the simple truth is that a third-party candidate will probably never receive enough widespread attention to be seriously eligible for the presidency. This fact will often surprise "hardcore" supporters, as they tend to cloud their political vision with fellows who also support that candidate, and thus have a wildly inflated view of the popularity of said candidate.

Unfortunately, many third-party enthusiasts really believe they will become president, and really just end up pulling away votes from viable, major party candidates, and often end up causing more trouble than providing good to the American political system. If a third-party candidate funneled his/her grassroots support toward a viable major-party candidate with a similar ideology, they would certainly have a possibility of scoring a vice-presidency position, or other important position in the executive office. However, many candidates fail to recognize this simple fact, and further serve to muddle the American political system. While third-party candidates do a service in the sense that they provide voters with a wider range of choices, they have little to no chance of actual presidential election, and thus do a grave disservice to their country by potentially pulling votes away from a major-party candidate and putting the presidency into the hands of a different candidate that will possibly put America further off the ideological track than it was at the onset of the third-party candidate's exploratory efforts and actual campaigning.

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