By Daniel Nardini
In the 2020 presidential election, I remember four parties and their candidates being on the ballot in Illinois. They were Donald Trump for the Republican Party, Joe Biden for the Democratic Party, Jo Jorgensen for the Libertarian Party, and Jill Stein for the Green Party. This was not the case in the 2024 presidential election. There was only Donald Trump for the Republican Party and Kamala Harris for the Democratic Party. Even before 2020, the Libertarian Party and the Green Party were on the Illinois ballot. What happened was that Illinois made voter access for third parties next to impossible. As much as both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party seem to agree on nothing, they seem to agree on keeping third parties off of the ballot and as much unrepresented in the political arena as possible. If anything, the two ruling parties (there is no other way for me to categories the Democrats and Republicans since they hold the levers of power in their respective states) have created a binary political world beholden only to them and their followers, their voters, and the powerful forces aligned with them.
If most Americans have not heard of the magazine and TV network Reason it is because the Democrats and Republicans are keeping the public from knowing about this alternative news source. Reason is a libertarian news and entertainment source that is in many ways in alignment with the Libertarian Party and yet also independent of it. It is worth watching Reason on youtube and reading the magazine version. It will provide information not found in the news networks aligned with either the Democratic or Republican-backed news and TV networks. Likewise, many Americans do not know that the Green Party USA is part of a larger Green parties and organizations network in many countries. Green parties exist in almost 90 countries, and Green members in other countries have been part of governments, leading environmental organizations and also organizations helping people across the globe during disasters. In many countries, third parties are important because they provide balance in the political process not found in the United States currently.
It is not hard to figure out why. Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party spend hundreds of millions of dollars not only making sure they win elections and bash each other but also to keep out third party alternatives. In the 2020’s, I have seen not only the campaign cycle between the Democrats and Republicans get ever more vicious, but make sure that third parties are kept off the ballots. I cannot answer for many Americans, but I am growing sick of the depraved level of hate and animosity being generated by the two ruling parties. Worse, their agendas have been growing ever more radical and tribal with each campaign cycle. In my view, American politics has descended to the level of virtual civil war. Can it get worse? Most certainly. This is why I am now turning my back to the two ruling parties. I am sick of their out-of-control partisanship, and I really want to have nothing to do with them. I say a plague on both their houses. I urge my fellow Americans to try and work towards ending this cycle of political violence and work towards giving voice to the third parties out there. It is time for a change.
Shutting Out Third Parties
By Daniel Nardini
If most Americans have not heard of the magazine and TV network Reason it is because the Democrats and Republicans are keeping the public from knowing about this alternative news source. Reason is a libertarian news and entertainment source that is in many ways in alignment with the Libertarian Party and yet also independent of it. It is worth watching Reason on youtube and reading the magazine version. It will provide information not found in the news networks aligned with either the Democratic or Republican-backed news and TV networks. Likewise, many Americans do not know that the Green Party USA is part of a larger Green parties and organizations network in many countries. Green parties exist in almost 90 countries, and Green members in other countries have been part of governments, leading environmental organizations and also organizations helping people across the globe during disasters. In many countries, third parties are important because they provide balance in the political process not found in the United States currently.
It is not hard to figure out why. Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party spend hundreds of millions of dollars not only making sure they win elections and bash each other but also to keep out third party alternatives. In the 2020’s, I have seen not only the campaign cycle between the Democrats and Republicans get ever more vicious, but make sure that third parties are kept off the ballots. I cannot answer for many Americans, but I am growing sick of the depraved level of hate and animosity being generated by the two ruling parties. Worse, their agendas have been growing ever more radical and tribal with each campaign cycle. In my view, American politics has descended to the level of virtual civil war. Can it get worse? Most certainly. This is why I am now turning my back to the two ruling parties. I am sick of their out-of-control partisanship, and I really want to have nothing to do with them. I say a plague on both their houses. I urge my fellow Americans to try and work towards ending this cycle of political violence and work towards giving voice to the third parties out there. It is time for a change.