Re: Why isn't there a viable third political party in the U.S.A.? Why only Republicans vs. Democrats
There are actually a couple of national level third party officeholders right now—Senators Angus King and Bernie Sanders, both Independents. A lot of people (myself included) would like to see Sanders run for President in 2016; if it happens, it'll be interesting to see whether he campaigns as Democrat or an Independent.
I voted for a third party Presidential candidate (Nader) in 2000, and I took a lot of grief for it from friends and family when Bush walked away with the win over Gore. I live in a state that ALWAYS swings blue, though, so my vote was really of no consequence in the overall election. I just wanted to see the Green Party get a higher popular vote count in order to qualify for funding in the next election.
But yes, third-party (usually Independent, Libertarian, or Green Party) candidates have a lot more success locally, but it's still a two-party dominated field.*
*OK, I just looked it up: There are currently 146 Libertarians and 131 Green Party members in office at the local level right now.
Of course, I just typed a big essay on this, and then all of it disappeared. Extremely frustrating.
This is important to me, so I'm going to type it again. And if it disappears again, I will type it again. And if it disappears yet again, I will type it yet again. This is important to me.
There's absolutely no conceivable way that Bernie Sanders will ever become President of the United States. He simply doesn't have the juice. Howard Dean didn't have the juice either, and we all saw what happened to his campaign. If memory serves me correctly, he didn't win a single state in the Democratic primary. (He might've won Vermont, but I don't think so, I'm not in the mood to look it up on Wikipedia.) I like Bernie Sanders. I like his appearances on MSNBC, I like his perpetually uncombed hair, I like his incredible intellect, I like the vast majority of his viewpoints, however, he just flat out does not have the juice to win a Presidential election. The great William Jennings Bryan failed four times in a row, after winning the Democratic nomination four times in a row, to win the general election to become President of the United States. Bernie Sanders is no William Jennings Bryan. If Bryan didn't have the juice, then under no circumstances does Bernie Sanders.
I need to also mention that both Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy did have the juice to win in '68. Of course, Bobby Kennedy was flat out murdered by the CIA at the Ambassador Hotel in June of '68. (This was right after he won the Democratic primary in California.) Anyone interested in politics should watch the BBC documentary, "
RFK Must Die." Watch this documentary. After watching this, if anyone can tell me that the CIA didn't execute Bobby Kennedy, I'll tell you that you're insane. They flat out murdered him, and they murdered him gladly. Bobby Kennedy had the juice to win a Presidential election, and the CIA damn well knew it, so they murdered him. Eugene McCarthy incredibly, and against all odds, had the juice to win a Presidential election. His near breakdown, complete with tears during a campaign speech, sunk him. Most people are too scared to back someone with such beautiful sensitivity, and honest emotion, so they'd rather back total losers like George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton. I'm sorry, but Bernie Sanders doesn't have the juice that Eugene McCarthy or Bobby Kennedy had.
By the way, the "
RFK Must Die" documentary is the most phenomenal documentary I've ever seen in my life. It is full of twists and turns, and is absolutely stunning, and completely convincing. The evidence that is presented is completely convincing.
Angus King does have the juice. He has the intellect, the gravitas, and the rare "it" factor. It's an odd "it" factor, but he has it. Absolutely no one saw James Garfield coming. Absolutely no one saw Jimmy Carter coming. Hardly anyone saw Bill Clinton coming. The odds are heavily, and I mean heavily, stacked against independent Angus King. However, in this bubbling cauldron of the current political climate, that I predict will only become more turbulent in the next two years, any f***ing thing is possible. James Garfield shocked in 1880. Jimmy Carter absolutely shocked in 1976. Why not Angus King in 2016? I can see a scenario where the majority of Democrats will back him, possibly the vast majority. Independents will flock to him in droves. Why not? The Democrats have one viable candidate, and that's Vice President Biden. I personally love Vice President Biden, he's one of my favorite politicians of all-time. However, in 2016 he'll be 73 yrs. old ( I think that's correct.) People will discriminate against him because of his age. Never mind the fact that John Paul Stevens retired from the United States Supreme Court at the age of 87, after serving for years with great distinction. Hardly anybody cares about that. Plus the mass media is bored with the Vice President and they'd rather annoint Hillary Clinton, Maryland Governor O'Malley, Chris Christie, or the the definition of tepid, Marco Rubio. Vice President Biden has the juice, but I just can't see him winning a Presidential election. Sadly.
A quick breakdown of the four empty suits, who the mass media craves, and who will love to annoint as the next U.S. President. Maryland Governor O'Malley is a cookie-cutter fake politician, with the charm of Harding, and the sit-on-the-fence bullshit governing style of the Clintons. Hillary Clinton is a borderline disaster. I'd love to see a female President, but under no circumstances do I want to see Hillary Clinton become the next President. And this is coming from a lifelong Democrat. We've had twenty worthless years of the Clinton's and the Bush's controlling the United States Presidency. Twenty years. James Garfield did more good for this country, in the six months that he was President, than Clinton and the Bush's did in their twenty years. (And the last three and a half months of his Presidency was literally on his deathbed.) We simply do not need another day in which one of these knuckleheads are sitting behind some ostentatious desk in the Oval Office. Go the f*** away. Chris Christie does nothing but suck. Go away. Spiro T. Agnew had more intellectual firepower than Marco Rubio. That's literally the worst insult that you can give any politician. Go away.
Damn, Al Gore should have been President. He had 550,000 more popular votes than Bush. I voted for Al Gore, and did so proudly. I proudly voted for John Kerry, and was Shocked that he lost. Are people, the American people, really that f***ing stupid? They are that stupid, at least the majority is. I proudly voted for President Obama in 2008, but then became disillusioned. In 2012, I gave up, and didn't even cast a ballot. I'd love to see Angus King, or Bernie Sanders, ( which would be a miracle) or anybody that I give a damn about, be on the ballot in the general election in 2016. If its Hillary and Christie, or O'Malley and Rubio, or any other empty suit, I'll happily stay home. Happily.
"
RFK Must Die," a shocking documentary.