I'm starting this thread for those of us who think outside the Political Duopoly box, and prefer not to vote for Democrats and/or Republicans. Whether you support the Libertarian Party, Green Party, Constitution Party, Justice Party (the four biggest smaller parties in the US), the Reform Party, the Tea Party, some other political party, or Independent/NPA (No Party Affiliated) candidates -- this thread is for us. International political discussions are also more than welcome.

Unfortunately, the current US Elections thread was hijacked by Hillary supporters who will not let anyone supporting another candidate or challenging Hillary to get a word in, so we need another way to freely express our ideologies in an educated and mature manner, without resorting to name-calling and personal attacks.

The way the American election system is formulated, its makes it impossible a third party candidate. And party membership, has almost taken itself as a religion.

Because of this, both of the parties aren't going anywhere anytime soon. This causes candidates who would be independent, or with a smaller party to have no choice but to run for the big two.

I'm hoping I get the opportunity to interview Jill Stein for my Thesis. She's the almost-certain Green Party nominee representing the GP this November, and is part of the Our America Initiative v. Commission on Presidential Debates lawsuit. Gary Johnson and the leaders of both the LP and GP are also plaintiffs in the case.

Jesse Ventura won the election for Governor of Minnesota as an Independent running against a Democrat and a Republican. So yes, it has happened and can happen again on a high level.

A victory for you guys, even though it was WAY too close

Austria defeated a far-right Presidential candidate when an independent Green-backed nominee snatched the crown by 20,000 mail-in votes. Breitbart and co were already celebrating the other guy's victory on Sunday.

I'm Australian - but I did a test the other day and found that I'm strongly left-wing and moderately Authoritarian, generally siding towards collectivism. Here that equated to being Green

There is a growing Libertarian Party in Australia, and articles show Australia is actually moving toward libertarianism. I'm surprised Green registered as authoritarian, as the GP is a strong protector of civil liberties, personal freedoms, and ending unnecessary military interventions. However, their economic platform is indeed Socialist.

Also, please read my wall post from tonight and PM from a few days ago when you get a chance.

I'm talking about presidents. The last time it came close, it caused Bush to be our president. Which is why its important to not allow that to happen this cycle.

And while I'm independent, and don't affiliate with any party. Its plain to see Americans are a bit "dumb down" to this.

With two very polarizing candidates offered by both sides of the Political Duopoly and that have unfavorable percentages of well over 50%, the Libertarians and possibly even the Greens have an unprecedented chance to make major inroads this year. Johnson, the likely LP nominee, has already scored 10% in a Fox News poll -- taking 8% of the Gop, 8% of the Dem, and 18% of the Independent voters. This should increase further once disillusioned Republicans and the anti-Hillary/pro-Bernie Democrats go looking for a POTUS candidate they can truly feel decent about when voting in November.

Perot pulled evenly from both parties according to this research in 1992. Nadar did offer Americans a choice in 2000 (and again in 2004) for Americans who didn't like Bush or Gore. More choices is good, not bad. With Perot, it brought 13.5 million more voters to the polls that would've otherwise stayed home.

Political independent here.

I highly encourage intelligent and mature discussions though without the name-calling and put downs from the other thread on here though. So feel free to express your opinion. That's what this thread is here for.

I changed the title to add in Independent.

There wasn't name calling, perhaps a better word would be naive.

So do you think Sanders will run as a third party candidate then? If he does, and proves to be effective that can increase the odds. But in this case someone will lose, and someone will win who isn't popular. That's where I'm getting at. A third party is impossible, winner takes all make this hard. Which is why this was changed in some countries like Australia. If the US reforms its voting laws, then we'll see some third party or even fourth compete.

I'm #StillSanders but have felt unwelcome in the main politics thread. I found out this election cycle I have more in common with independent voters than I do with 'traditional' Democrats. This thread is the place for me, and I'm glad to see our country has so many who are fed up with the two party system corruption. I genuinely feel a third party candidate will have increasingly better chances as time marches on.

You would do well to adjust your choice of words here if you want a discussion thread to remain open, and if you want deliberation to remain both respectful and thoughtful. Just two cents that you didn't ask for but will be receiving nonetheless.

No actually a good point. I kept Political Duopoly in there, but I changed some of the wording I think you found biased.

No I didn't say you were name calling lol! I appreciated your mature reply to my original comment. I was thanking you, not being sarcastic.

As for Bernie doing a third-party run, It's too late due to "sore-loser" laws in most states and the petition deadlines are either very soon or have already passed (like Texas). Sanders' platform is almost identical to the GP's Jill Stein's, and actually also has more in common with the LP platform than Clinton's. Sanders is a fairly strong supporter of civil liberties and personal freedoms, and he's opposed to endless and unnecessary military interventions, though he's Socialist economically.

That's why I created this thread, because the US Elections thread was overtaken by Hillary supporters. Thank you for being here and joining in on our discussion!