New Election Guidelines Concerning Third Parties example essay topic

There seems to be more new political parties with each passing election. Some people argue that these new parties offer people tired of bipartisan politics as usual a fresh choice. Though any of these parties seldom win elections the argument is made that they play an important role in giving a voice to voters tired of republican and democratic dogma. The argument is made that by voting for a third party candidate a person can make a protest vote of sorts. However, I do not think that a protest vote is a good reason to vote for a candidate. First, third party candidates more often times then not serve only in the role of spoiler.

This is especially true in close elections. When a third party candidate serves in the role of spoiler they can disenfranchise the majority of the voters for a certain candidate. Thereby overriding the true will of the people. I feel this violates basic fundamental principles of democracy. Second, I believe new election laws are needed. I believe third party candidates should have to meet new rigid criteria to run in a general election.

This would ensure that the third party candidate would have a reasonable expectation of victory. This would eliminate the role of spoiler. Finally, I believe with new election guidelines concerning third parties that the voters can be given a fresh choice as well as guaranteeing a fair election. There are many newly formed political third parties. These parties include, the Reform Party, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the Natural Law Party, and the US Taxpayers Party.

The Reform party is one of the more widely known of these. Ross Perot founded the Reform Party several years ago. This party created a lot of buzz about third party politics And when Ross Perot ran for President under his newly founded party's banner many people did vote for him as an alternative to the Democratic and Republican Party candidates. Many feel that this caused the republican candidate Bob Dole to loose the election the democratic candidate Bill Clinton. Thus the third party in this election served in the role of spoiler for the Republican Party candidate. The second most known of these parties would be the Green Party.

Their front man and former presidential candidate is Ralph Nader. The Green party has been around for a while but has only recently gained in popularity in the two thousand elections. This due in part to its front man Ralph Nader. He has presented the party as the party of change and the true voice of the people.

Nader got about two percent of the popular vote in the general election for president of the United States on November 7. That does not sound like much, however the argument can, and has been made that it had a dramatic effect on the election. Nader got about three percent of the vote in Florida. That is substantial when you consider at present Gorge W. Bush only leads Vice President Al Gore by five hundred and thirty seven votes. This once again illustrates how a third party candidate can override the true will of the people.

However, many people like the ideal of third parties. They believe in breaks up the domination of the democratic and republican parties in general elections. They argument has been made that it helps keep our political system honest. I believe there is some truth to this statement.

Third parties can give a voice to special segments of our society that feel that they are not be represented by the current political status quo. This may allow everyone to feel as if they have a say in out government. Even so, I do believe that for the most part third parties only serve in the role of spoilers. I firmly believe that they can override the will of the people in an election. This is even truer in a close election. The evident's from past as well as the current presidential election would seem to confirm this.

I believe the true will of the voters to be paramount and must not be thwarted by a third party candidate who has no reasonable expectation of victory. I believe that new campaign laws are needed to eliminate this possible undermining of the true will of the majority of the voters. There needs to be more rigid guidelines and requirements for any parties wanting to run a candidate in a general election. I believe all third parties that wish to run a candidate in any general election should have to prove that there is a reasonable expectation of victory.

In this way the voters will cannot be undermined. Finally I think with new campaign rules the role of the spoiler can be eliminated permanently. I believe this will bring equality and fairness to all elections.