Anyone that follows politics knows that the candidates running are not only Republican or Democrat; there are other candidates known as "third-party candidates." These candidates do not get even a small percentage of the attention that the bigger named candidates get that are affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic party. One problem with this two-party system that we are in is that the American people see issues as only having two options; they do not get to hear the other options unless they do their own research.
One of the more well known third parties today is the Libertarian Party. The candidate for this party in the 2012 presidential election was Gary Johnson. If you walk down the street and ask someone who the candidate for this party was, I would bet that less than half of the people would know this answer. Why? Because the media does not give these candidates any attention on the nightly news, and they also do not invite them to the presidential debates. Despite being shut out by the media, Johnson still received over one million votes in the election. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/11/08/Libertarian-Party-buoyant-Greens-hopeful/UPI-46151352363400/ .
Many Republicans in the 2012 election did not like Ron Paul because they did not see him as being a true Republican. These people are correct. Paul is considered to be a Libertarian, but he had to join the Republican ticket if he wanted to get any kind of media exposure to get his message and beliefs to the American people.
Third party candidates have not always been excluded from participating in the debates. Ross Perot was included in the debates during the 1996 election. Although Perot did not win the election, he still received over 8% of the votes. http://presidentelect.org/e1996.html . Is it fair for the American people that the media chooses to only show two parties beliefs? I do not think it is fair. In our political society today, many people rely on their information by watching an hour of television a few times each week. During the election season, these mass media sites only focus on the two major parties, which essentially leaves the average voter with two candidates to choose from. While I do not believe that every third party candidate should be on stage for the presidential debates, I do believe that putting one more candidate in the debates is a good start for now. Our country is very black and white when it comes to politics today, meaning that there are only two ways of doing things. It is time to bring some real change to politics and give the American people more options.
I could not agree with you more, Brigan. You make great points throughout. I find it disturbing that the media has to invite the candidates to the debates rather than the candidates being able to freely attend or pay to attend the debates.
ReplyDeleteAs for Paul, it was evident he was not Republican, as you pointed out, and he is not the only one that has had to label himself under a main party in order to have a chance of being elected. Reagan and Storm Thurgood switched parties when the political climate began to change yet their shifts are not as emphasized historically.
Also, I briefly skimmed the article you pasted and I noticed the following humorous passage, "A CNN poll released Friday indicated Stein would win 1 percent and Johnson 4 percent. The poll had a 3.5 percentage-point error margin." Oh, the Nostradamuses of the media, when will they learn that the future is generally unforeseeable, especially in the arena of American politics.
Brigan, I do think third party candidates do need attention as well. Voters have the right to know their options, and yes they can research on their own but most do not. They depend on mass media sources. I mentioned in one of my class discussions about Roseanne Barr running for president under the Peace and Freedom Party in 2012. While she is a very well known actress hardly anyone knew she was running for president.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you as well and think this is a very fascinating question. Are we just simple minded and don’t care about the third party? I am not sure but the media defiantly has a lot to do with it in my opinioin. I think that it’s not fair to the candidates that the media would almost eliminate a candidate because he/she don’t identify with the two major parties. I think as you already stated that we should have all of options on the table not just the “normal” ones. I want the candidate to be comfortable with their party ID and not just having to go with what they are closer to because of the lack of help through the media. This post fits the discussion we are having in class this week because there is a lack of familiarity with candidates who run under a different ticket.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that in political campaigns it is normally very cut and dry and there are only two main political sides to choose from, obviously Republican and Democrat. I think it would be more beneficial to have many different political choices, but with these different choices would the American people break the cycle and give these other views a chance??
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