Re:Only 9% of America Chose Trump and Clinton as the Nominees
by kingnothing on Monday August 01, 2016 @12:42PM
(#12203830)
Federal funding would help those candidates get national TV ads and in front of more people in general. Then, with the added legitimacy of a 3rd party with that kind of money to splash around, they would likely be included in more prime time debates and other forms of media coverage. The two incumbent parties would also start to pay attention to the newcomer. It isn't a 4 or 8 year fix, but I believe it would be a major step in the right direction for this country.
Re:Only 9% of America Chose Trump and Clinton as the Nominees
by mikeash on Monday August 01, 2016 @12:56PM
(#12203968)
So they get some attention, and then they either fade out or take over. Either way, we're back where we started. The problem isn't that third parties don't get enough attention, the problem is that the way the electoral system is designed, there can only be two significant parties. You might change the names of those two parties, but that won't really do much.
Re:Only 9% of America Chose Trump and Clinton as the Nominees
by xlxlxlx on Monday August 01, 2016 @09:05PM
(#12207216)
In the case of the green party, it's part of their platform to do away with FPTP voting, so potentially no, we wouldn't be back where we started.
Re:Only 9% of America Chose Trump and Clinton as the Nominees
by lettergram on Monday August 01, 2016 @12:23PM
(#12203660)
> They're still not going to have a chance at winning or meaningfully affecting the policies of the major parties.
A third party doesn't actually don't need to win. If a candidate does not receive a majority in the electoral college I believe the house / congress decides[1]. This would also pretty much destroy both parties - they will have to compromise and come closer to the middle.
[1] http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/a...
Re:Only 9% of America Chose Trump and Clinton as the Nominees
by mikeash on Monday August 01, 2016 @12:38PM
(#12203795)
The odds of that happening are still basically negligible. And if it did, you'd shake up or destroy the major parties, but then you'd be back to some sort of two-party system pretty much right away, whether with the incumbents or new ones.
Anyway, I don't see what difference federal funding would make. They're still not going to have a chance at winning or meaningfully affecting the policies of the major parties. In the unlikely event they do manage to win, it's basically mathematically guaranteed that they'll just displace one of the other major parties and we'll be back to a two-party system again. This is, of course, what happened in the mid 19th century when the Republican Party displaced the Whigs. There's no way around it in a first-past-the-post system. If you want third parties to be viable (and I sure do!) then you need electoral reform, not protest votes.