Can a viable third party work in the USA?

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Over the past decade or so, I have noticed that many people within the United States have become rather disenchanted with both the Democratic and Republican parties, yet people still vote for officials from only these two parties.

This had me thinking: Can a viable third party (or parties) work in the US? I say yes, there needs to be more viewpoints added to this mix; our current two-party system has shown many cracks and flaws in the past 25 years. If I could, I'd join the Green Party.

Sound off, everyone.

Only a third party with very deep pockets to afford all the necessary advertising. America has the best politicians that money can buy.

The desire might be there but the system isn't, you get no representation unless you win a plurality of votes.

Yes, I vote we bring back the whig party!

i've been saying for a long time that American politics needs an established Labour party in the senate. The Democrats are at its core, a bosses party. They aren't about standing up for workers.

The system is fine, it's the desire that is the problem.

The American Houses work essentially the same as the British House of Commons i.e. election via FPTP. Excluding Northern Irish parties and Independents, 7 parties are represented in the Commons. There's no reason why a Green or Libertarian couldn't be elected and hold the balance of power.

It would be harder with the President, admittedly.

No. There is only right and wrong. No room for any grey area!

Now now, per the SETI crew we've got to be prepared for registered and legal aliens voting within our lifetimes cuz we've got definite contact within the next 20 years. Ballots will have to be in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Enochian!

I think I will vote third party next election. But I know none of them will win. However if more and more people vote third party they will start gaining momentum

The two-party system is fine, but most voters have lost sight of practicality. A deep depression or world war will straighten that out.

The Republicans used to be a third party. They knocked the Whigs out of 2nd place.

FPTP electoral systems tend to produce two parties. This is known as Duverger's law:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law

And even if there are counterexamples, FPTP systems tend to produce parties with absolute majorities (thus making additional parties represented somewhat irrelevant). Actually, the current situation in the UK House of Commons is something of an anomaly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_parli ... ed_Kingdom

As for voting for a third party in the US, one should remember the 2000 presidential election. Those who voted for Ralph Nader and the Green Party in the 2000 may have been instrumental in getting George W. Bush elected as President by siphoning off votes from Al Gore. After all, Nader got a total of 97,488 votes in Florida, and Bush only narrowly defeated Gore by 537 votes.

Thats true.

The "Grand Old Party"(actually the younger of the two major American parties) was the one example of a third party succeeding. And even in that example it did not result in a permanent three party system. As you said- it just caused one of the existing two parties to die out- and for the GOP to become one of two again.

Ben Wattenberg did a show all about third parties on PBS. It explored the Republican party, TR's Bullmoose Party, George Wallaces's party, and Ross Perot's Party, and others. His conclusion was that third parties appear when the American public is angered about a single issue that the two big parties are ignoring. So the third party will get traction in one election. But then one or the other of the two big parties will get the hint and also take on the issue and coopt the third parties constituency- and that then the third party will die out.

I think that localised parties based on sectional interests will be more successful than a national third party in the foreseeable future. They need to start at the grassroots and work upwards through local elections, then state government, then the House of Representives rather than throw everything into the presidential election.

I can't see a Labour Party succeeding because it's just not the American way and the large scale heavy industries that would provide a support base for it have vanished.

There's really no way a 3rd party can work. If the 3rd party is more left of center, the Republicans will win. If it's right of center, the democrats will win.

This might well be true for Presidential elections, but not the rest of them. Particularly in "safe" seats, where people are free to vote third party.