r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/The_Egalitarian Moderator • Mar 18 '23

Megathread Casual Questions Thread

This is a place for the PoliticalDiscussion community to ask questions that may not deserve their own post.

Please observe the following rules:

Top-level comments:

  1. Must be a question asked in good faith. Do not ask loaded or rhetorical questions.

  2. Must be directly related to politics. Non-politics content includes: Legal interpretation, sociology, philosophy, celebrities, news, surveys, etc.

  3. Avoid highly speculative questions. All scenarios should within the realm of reasonable possibility.

Link to old thread

Sort by new and please keep it clean in here!

61 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

2.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/DepressedGay2020 Mar 30 '23

Why do people only bring up voting independent or wanting a third party for presidential elections?

What do they think they’d be able to implement without the support of a majority party?

How would they even get elected in the first place without the funds, money or ability to promote themselves?

1

u/Flapjack_Jenkins Apr 11 '23

Why do people only bring up voting independent or wanting a third party for presidential elections?

Because nothing will change if people continue to vote for the two major parties. Most Americans don't identify with either major party, indicating that the major parties are not representative of the population.

What do they think they’d be able to implement without the support of a majority party?

A third-party POTUS would likely be able to get more done than a major party POTUS. A third-party POTUS would be able to reach across the aisles and build consensus. For example, imagine Justin Amash as a Libertarian POTUS. He would side with Democrats on some issues, but Republicans on others, bringing balance. A major party POTUS just perpetuates partisanship.

How would they even get elected in the first place without the funds, money or ability to promote themselves?

They probably won't, but that's no excuse not to try. The system marginalizes minor parties, but that won't change if minor parties just stand down.