It is rigged… It is rigged FOR the two party system. It is a tyranny of two parties, and they have made the rules such that no third party can stand up against it… I think that our current system is making a mockery of democracy.
I am a libertarian, an active one who is part of the Libertarian Party of Virginia. I do not represent either of the two major parties. The system is RIGGED against third parties. Let me explain… The two major parties have access to federal funds for elections from the Federal Election Commission, this is public taxpayer money which is provided to the two major parties to pay for campaigns. This money totals millions of dollars.
http://www.fec.gov/press/bkgnd/fund.shtml
However, these funds are distributed primarily among the two major parties. Third parties DO NOT have access to this money. They have very obscure rules that have to be met in order for third parties to gain access to this for funding their campaigns. This automatically provides a massive advantage to the two major parties.
Also, third party candidates are not always included on the ballot in every state. The rules for having a third party candidate on the state ballot is very unclear and inconsistent. Therefore, it effectively limits people’s voting options.
Furthermore, in order to be in the presidential debates a third party candidate has to be polling above 15% in 5 major polls. These polls have to be in a specific timespan from after Labor Day to well before the first debate. Some of these polls DO NOT EVEN INCLUDE third party candidates. Third party candidates are shut out from presenting their ideas in a debate forum against the two major parties. This is undemocratic. America is formed of many people with different ideas, we should have our government be more representative of this and allow different political parties, and thus different political ideologies, into the debates.
The two parties have each fielded candidates who are the most unpopular in history. People seem to be picking for the lesser of two evils. Neither party seems to be actually fixing America’s problems. Furthermore, the two party system is polarizing America and creating a hostile political environment where bi-partisanship is the rule, not the exception.
So it is rigged. The two parties are going to keep their stranglehold on American politics, and keep any other possibilities from presenting any challenge. How can America claim to be a representative democracy when it represents ONLY two polarized ideologies and unwilling to let any other ideas be represented?
Edited by
Histology101
on Fri 08/19/16 09:19 PM
