2008 Woodie Awards
Third Parties Are Here to Stay
Jennyfer Rahill
Issue date: 10/29/04 Section: Entertainment
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On November 2, you might be surprised to see eight presidential candidates on the Florida Ballot. They are campaigning around the country promoting their platforms and reaching out beyond the voters registered to their party. However, it is strange the news media has chosen to cover little or none of these candidates and their parties.
The networks might not want to cover third parties because they could "take away" from Democratic or Republican votes, thus seeming bias. However it is bias to only show Americans the large, rich and powerful parties involved in this election. One might also argue that Americans are not interested in third parties, thus suggesting that every American can neatly fit into two political categories. After all, those are our only options if we wish to cast a vote that "counts," and the media consistently reinforces the tradition of voters being pigeonholed into one of two categories.
I cannot tell you how many times I've heard someone say, "I don't like either one of them!" The media and the two campaigns call these "swing voters." Let's be honest! They are not swinging from one large party to the other; they simply do not like or do not fit into either party's agenda. A somewhat optimistic ideology would suggest that parties represent people on a myriad of issues and politicians are elected based on substance. However, in a two party system voters must align with a party based on what they consider to be the most important issue. We are suffocated with "hot topics" in which we are encouraged to take sides. If third parties were allowed a voice, more Americans would know that the Democrats are not the only party opposing the war in Iraq. They would also know that the Republicans are not the only party promoting conservative economic policies. A two party system narrowly defines Americans and some voters are forced to pick the presidential candidate that they hate less.
A presidential debate is essentially candidates in the same place, under the same conditions to represent themselves. Some even call it an interview and in the past it has been known to change the course of the election. Television reaches the largest number of voters but unless you have as much money as Ross Perot, you cannot afford this media coverage. He spent $64 million of his own money and was the first and only third party candidate invited to a televised Presidential debate.