Most people don't know this about america.

You might think based off of media coverage that here in America we only have 2 political parties. This is not the case we in fact have a fair amount of parties with different views, all with people running right now. Check out this website it has a list of all the names and who is running.

www.politics1.com...

Why is it that the media only focus is on ether Republican or Democrat?

Those of you who don't want to vote for any of the more famous people running but felt like you had no choice, YOU DO HAVE A CHOICE. Your vote can still count. I have seen a lot of people on here saying they will vote for no one just because they don't like the current , wrongly perceived only choices.
The more we vote for these other lesser knowns the more attention they will get from the media.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

I am going to say you sound a bit naive about the political realities here. The media is owned by like 5 corporations all who support the establishment. That is why there is no media coverage of the other candidates. In case you didn't catch the Trump and Sanders issues with the Establishment, they don't care what the people want. They intend on putting in their establishment candidates at all costs i.e. Cruz, Hillary.

The people are at such a divide they don't want to waste a vote on a 3rd party candidate that will not get anywhere in the General Election anyway. BTW, it is choice not chose. Please tell me you are not a special snowflake in college looking for a safe place. This is the last place you will find that. I ask because of your avatar and name. Are you afraid of Trump perhaps?

a reply to: scraedtosleep

Unfortunately, these other parties garner such underwhelming numbers of support that they don't do too much to upset the two-party system.

Most feel as if they're tossing their vote in the trash by voting independent or any third party...likewise, the media wouldn't cover something that voters don't consider important.

Sad, but this is the way it will be for many more decades to come.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

I have to agree with the first comment. Also. Choice and choices not chose or chooses. Jesus. Language is dead.

I am the Head Honcho of the Illuminati.
Now go back to your regular business.
I am enjoying a tin of sardines and crackers with Louisiana hot sauce.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

I will probably be voting Libertarian in November. Not that it will matter much.

The last election cycle, Gary Johnson had the highest percentage of votes after Obama and Romney. He had less than 1%.

A 3rd party has no chance.

False. We have 2 parties. Any time a 3rd party gets support it is consumed by one of the 2 or it replaces one of the 2.

Lol... People still like to think the potus is elected.

I applaud your effort to educate and inform, and indeed, I encourage everyone to do their due dilligence, research all possible alternatives, and make a decision.

That said, believe it or not, I'm actually very aware of these parties and candidates, as I have searched for someone I could throw my vote at for decades now. Sanders came closer than anyone, and I very nearly chose to support him - but his stance on 2nd amendment issues ensured I cannot.

The green party is closest, but I cannot in good conscience vote for them either. All of the other candidates and parties - which I did research - are not going to get my support, unfortunately. And many of them, frankly, are effectively no different than simply writing someone in.

Therefore, I will - as per usual - not vote. Or rather, I will go to the polls, but will write in:

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: "The ghost of George Carlin, who if indeed an afterlife exists contrary to his belief while living, must surely be looking down with a mixture of extreme terror and unbridled amusement at what we're doing to the world as a species collectively, and a nation individually. For as he said, when you're born on earth, you get a ticket to the freak show... and when you're born in America, you get a front row seat."

Quoting another pop culture source - which I know many will treat with disdain, but I care not - I'll also say, "Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy."

Peace.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

Mainly because in the US the parties form around a coalition of groups who comprise a set of issues called a platform. In other countries, the parties are centered around issues and the coalition forms after elections.

My husband saw this at work during his brief time interacting with an atheist group that was trying to become a political party. Their only issue was "getting politics out of religion." He kept pointing out that if that was all they were about, their only issue, then it was going to be very difficult to ever lure in voters who were still religious and comprised a majority of voters because they simply didn't care all that much. They would need to put together a comprehensive platform of issues and positions that would make them attractive beyond their first.

The two main parties comprise coalitions of groups because they have comprehensive platforms that address the main concerns of those groups (or at least they're supposed to). We're seeing a voters' revolt this year because the parties seem to have forgotten what they promise they stand for as soon as they get to DC recently.

originally posted by: skunkape23
I am the Head Honcho of the Illuminati.
Now go back to your regular business.
I am enjoying a tin of sardines and crackers with Louisiana hot sauce.

Greetings- I hope that brand of Louisiana hot sauce doesn't have the "Katrina Backwash" in it??? If it does You'll be 'painting the rim' like You just went through the TacoBell® drive-thru...

That of course will please all the Serfs to see the 'Head of the Snake' writhing in sweat and in a state of dis-comfort..

The only serum is an Abita® Beer...

Bon Appetit

a reply to: scraedtosleep

The establishment and the media push polarisation. Not just in politics but in everything. By their logic, there is only left, right or the fence.

They do not want anybody thinking outside of their established box. Hell, they do not want anyone thinking at all!

Easier to herd unthinking, polarised sheep than engage on any meaningful level with thinking men and women.

a reply to: Metallicus

I'll be with you on the other side of the river.

I'm actually a registered Libertarian in KY, although I don't espouse every single one of their ideals.

a reply to: watchitburn

Right, but in the early years of our country we had the two main parties being the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party (or just "Republican Party). Here's the interesting part about names of parties and how they evolve (emphasis mine):

In an analysis of the contemporary party system, Jefferson wrote on February 12, 1798:

"Two political Sects have arisen within the U. S. the one believing that the executive is the branch of our government which the most needs support; the other that like the analogous branch in the English Government, it is already too strong for the republican parts of the Constitution; and therefore in equivocal cases they incline to the legislative powers: the former of these are called federalists, sometimes aristocrats or monocrats, and sometimes Tories, after the corresponding sect in the English Government of exactly the same definition: the latter are stiled republicans, Whigs, jacobins, anarchists, dis-organizers, etc. these terms are in familiar use with most persons."

And now, we sit here with two parties whose names used to be a single, hyphenated party, both have become federalist in nature, and the rest of us who think that the executive branch of the government (and government in general) is already too strong have no real representation in the elections.

This is why we have a duty to start voting for a third party, because as history shows, major parties and their ideologies change over time, but if you get caught in the trap of mindlessly uttering the mantra that "a 3rd party has no chance," then you're doing nothing to help create some sort of solution.

Eventually, the two major parties will shift, and either a third one will come into play, or one will fall and be replaced, or the two current ones will admit that they're one in the same and join forces against any other party trying to edge into the government. Either way, pretending like we're in a perpetual state of political choice is the antithesis of doing something about it.

a reply to: AceWombat04

I 'm right here with you on this. I am leaning toward the green party but they are to hard on current energy producers.

originally posted by: AceWombat04


PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: "The ghost of George Carlin



Peace.

This! Is! The answer!

originally posted by: skunkape23
I am the Head Honcho of the Illuminati.
Now go back to your regular business.
I am enjoying a tin of sardines and crackers with Louisiana hot sauce.

I call shenanigans, if that is truly who you are you'd be eating the heads of puppies on cilantro bread and washing it down with the tears of children obtained from a dentist office.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

That may be fun to say, but it doesn't change the reality that as long as the two parties hold their monopoly on media coverage, a third party still has no chance.

a reply to: watchitburn

That's only true of people are asleep at the wheel.

I agree that they currently are, but that's not going to last forever, IMO. We have way too easy access to information now, so the only excuse is apathy--one of the few things more readily accessible than information these days.