As of Monday, the Green Party will not be on Wisconsin’s general election ballot in November. Wisconsin is a crucial state for both presidential candidates, and this ballot change could potentially alter the election’s current trajectory.
Due to the complexities of the two-party system, the Green Party — along with other third parties — don’t stand a real chance at winning a presidential election. However, they have the power to influence the outcome and steal votes from major candidates, as evidenced by the results of the 2016 presidential election. The Green Party was responsible for President Donald Trump’s winning of Wisconsin.
Third parties, however, can also influence the political agenda. They bring significant issues otherwise overlooked by the major parties to the forefront of discussion. Even though they aren’t winning, they can communicate to the two-party establishment what its candidates aren’t addressing enough.
However, current circumstances prove there are more productive ways of influencing politics than forming a separate party.
In such a deeply divided two-party system, there is no way for a third-party candidate to win. If they want a seat in office, they essentially have to join one of the mainstream parties and run as either a Democrat or Republican. And they might have to compromise their fervor in the process.
Despite the existence of official third parties, those who align with them often fall into lowercase factions within the existing parties, such as libertarian or democratic-socialist. Or they might simply call themselves a moderate.
Such politicians are then afraid to fully embrace their views on the public stage because they know the risks of appearing too radical or too moderate. In a party that represents such a wide range of voters, there’s no way to please anyone. The party as a whole then becomes stagnant as politicians continue to fear votership loss. Yet, they remain in power.
The result is that the electorate is largely hesitant to vote third-party — and they should be.
As we see it now, the Green Party acts as a peacemaker. When people are angry about their party’s presidential nominee, they vote green as a form of protest. But that is a quite selfish way to go about voting — it is the equivalent to not voting at all.
If you’re voting out of protest, then your vote is going to waste. It is not productive, and it is not the more “noble” action to take. If you are looking for a perfect presidential candidate with a platform that aligns with all of your beliefs, you will never find one.
Instead, your vote does nothing more than help the opposing party, and you lose your political voice.
This conflict is prominent among those in the Democratic Party right now. The “Settle for Biden” sentiment is gaining momentum around the Internet after the party’s more progressive voters were disappointed U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders did not win the nomination.
The Democratic Party is more notably divided than the Republicans, with a broad range of moderate, liberal and socialist voters. Those who identify themselves with the party, and even those who don’t, are having to convince other party members that although they are unhappy with the ticket, this election is too consequential to vote third-party.
As always, voters are in a bind. To think that so many people within a major political party are so unsatisfied with their own candidate is truly sad. Several factors went into Sanders’ loss — lack of young voter turnout is one, but lack of confidence is his ability to beat Trump is another.
Thus, even though radical candidates like Sanders exist even in a major party and energized much of its voter base, it’s clear voters still weren’t confident enough in their beliefs’ ability to win an American election to stand behind them.
Third parties form out of individuals with the passion to drive innovative change at a time when they’re disillusioned with the current state of politics. They bring up important issues and, if they keep building grassroots momentum, might see future success if the elections system evolves to become more inclusive.
But for now, how can they make more impact on this country and gain the power needed to actually implement their policies?
The American people need more awareness of their platforms as a whole. Third parties are lost in a compounding cycle — the media does not cover these parties nearly as much as it does the two major parties because they don’t have as large a following. And because they don’t have that impressive support base, they don’t gain much attention in general, even at the local level.
Third parties also lack the necessary capital to hold major events and catch the eyes of the media. News outlets are a business, and they cover what the people want and need to see, whether that results in equal coverage or not. But if they did shine a spotlight on these lesser-known parties more often, things could change drastically.
Or, we could change our voting system.
The United States is stubborn in holding onto archaic government traditions and systems. If the country were to transition to a ranked-choice voting system, political participation could evolve into something that more people are truly energized for. Without electability politics, election results would be a much more accurate reflection of genuine public opinion.
The American people deserve a democracy that functions off of the true will of the people rather than forced votes toward two outdated platforms that dominate the political arena.
