July 10, 2025

The problem with third parties

Michael Steele, MSNBC -  The American political system isn't just hostile to third parties, it is structurally designed to destroy them. Our Founding Fathers didn't even want political parties, which they called "factions." Since the race between Federalist John Adams and Democratic–Republican Thomas Jefferson in 1800, we've been locked into a two-party system and have not looked back. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have any intention of clearing a path for a viable third, fourth or fifth option.

Starting a political party in America isn't just a branding exercise. It's a slog through 50 states, plus five inhabited territories, each with its own ballot laws, deadlines, filing requirements and thresholds for signature gathering and registration — and that's just to get recognized. Musk wouldn't be starting a political party; he'd be starting 55 political parties.  Full column


3 comments:

Greg Gerritt said...

Having spent over 30 years trying to build a Thrid Party, I can say not only is the process incredibly difficult, the difficulties usually serve to dissapate the energy, and leave behind only th4e activists who are not really connected to thier home commuiities. Everyone who actually is working on issues in the neighborhood eventualy finds that they can get much more done on the issues outside of the third party, and gets frustrated with the unconnected people and leaves. The unconnected have little grasp of effectiveness making them a drain on resources.

Anonymous said...

Jen Sullivan

Anonymous said...

The founding fathers need to get out if the way of the founding mothers and our non white citizens. Elon and the American Party is NOT representative of the rest of us. The Green Party is. We do not take bribery campaign donations and have a set of values the others lack. We have gotten on enough state ballots despite the nasty pushback of the unaparty