11-01-2008, 08:10 PM
By: Ashton Simmons
Posted: 10/31/08
While voters across the country are making the decision between Barack Obama and John McCain, some are left wondering if there is another option. Fortunately for these voters, there are other options, mainly in the form of third parties representing a range of ideologies.
The number of third party presidential candidates on each ballot varies from state to state, but there are three candidates representing the Constitution, Libertarian and Green parties on enough ballots to theoretically obtain the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidential election.
The Constitution Party nominee is Chuck Baldwin, a pastor, conservative political activist and 2004 Constitution Party Vice Presidential nominee. Darrel Castle, an attorney, political activist and former Marine Corps Lieutenant, is his running mate.
Former and federal prosecutor Bob Barr and Wayne Allen Root, a sports handicapper, businessman, author and TV show host, are the Libertarian presidential and vice-presidential candidates, respectively.
The Green Party's presidential candidate is former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. The Vice Presidential candidate is Rosa Clemente, a commentator, political activist, community organizer and independent reporter.
McKinney, Baldwin and Former Green Party candidate Ralph Nader who is running independently, are not on the ballot in Indiana, although they can be written in.
Sophomore Ashley Slupski said she will cast her vote with McKinney.
"She speaks my values," said Slupski. "She is against war, all war, not just those in Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan. She is pro-choice and promises to pass the Equal Rights Amendment within the first thirty days of her presidency. She is against big business and oppressive capitalism that promotes sweatshop labor and the abuse of our environment."
"She values people over profit," Slupski added.
Slupski also highlighted the historical significance of third party candidates.
"Both the 'major party' campaigns want voters to look past the issues and merely focus on the historic nature of their candidates: a woman Vice Presidential candidate and a black Presidential candidate," Slupski said. "Yet they also ask the American people to ignore another historic campaign, the campaign of Cynthia McKinney, a black woman from Georgia running alongside Rosa Calmente, a Puerto Rican woman from New York."
However, the decision to vote for a third party goes beyond just ideology.
"For many reasons, we are not likely to ever have a competitive third party in this country," said political science professor Brett O'Bannon.
He said many elements of the electoral system prevent a third party from gaining prominence, such as campaign finance rules and the Electoral College.
"The bottom line is that we have an electoral system that will just, over time, promote a two-party system," he said.
Each semester, O'Bannon illustrates the difficulties associated with a two party system to his comparative politics class. He asks his students to choose the party they will be affiliated with, and then asks how many students agree with that party a certain percentage of the time. He said he finds that students often disagree with their party at least a quarter to half of the time, frequently on significant issues.
"We're all willing to concede the point I'm trying to make there, that we have loads of room for at least a third party," he said. "Does it make sense that only two parties would meet all of the ideologies of 300 million people?"
O'Bannon said third parties have played a major role in recent elections: bringing up issues major parties don't.
To illustrate his point, O'Bannon gave the example of the new emphasis placed on the environment, which he attributes to the Green Party.
"Third parties introduce questions that then get picked up by the other two parties, and it then becomes an issue on the table that would not have been if that third party had been absent," he said.
Secondly, he said that third party candidates have played a spoiler role in recent elections, most famously the 2000 election. Many people believe that Nader took votes away from Al Gore, therefore causing George W. Bush to win the election.
Some voters struggle with their decision of who to vote for during the election. Sophomore Craig Melancon is debating whether to vote for Senator Barack Obama or Nader.
"I've found Obama and Biden, as well as the Democratic Party in general, to not be in line with what I want to see for America," Melancon said. "I would much rather elect Ralph Nader as president, because I feel that he represents my political leanings better than the other alternatives. However, while I would prefer to give my vote to Nader, I am debating whether or not I should vote for Obama as a way of keeping John McCain and Sarah Palin out of the White House."
O'Bannon said he feels voters are throwing away their vote by voting for a third party, as evidenced by the results of the 2000 election.
"I want my mea culpa from those people who said there wasn't a big enough of a difference between Gore and Bush that they felt they could vote their conscience and vote for a third party," he said.
http://www.thedepauw.com/media/storage/p...9212.shtml
Posted: 10/31/08
While voters across the country are making the decision between Barack Obama and John McCain, some are left wondering if there is another option. Fortunately for these voters, there are other options, mainly in the form of third parties representing a range of ideologies.
The number of third party presidential candidates on each ballot varies from state to state, but there are three candidates representing the Constitution, Libertarian and Green parties on enough ballots to theoretically obtain the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidential election.
The Constitution Party nominee is Chuck Baldwin, a pastor, conservative political activist and 2004 Constitution Party Vice Presidential nominee. Darrel Castle, an attorney, political activist and former Marine Corps Lieutenant, is his running mate.
Former and federal prosecutor Bob Barr and Wayne Allen Root, a sports handicapper, businessman, author and TV show host, are the Libertarian presidential and vice-presidential candidates, respectively.
The Green Party's presidential candidate is former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. The Vice Presidential candidate is Rosa Clemente, a commentator, political activist, community organizer and independent reporter.
McKinney, Baldwin and Former Green Party candidate Ralph Nader who is running independently, are not on the ballot in Indiana, although they can be written in.
Sophomore Ashley Slupski said she will cast her vote with McKinney.
"She speaks my values," said Slupski. "She is against war, all war, not just those in Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan. She is pro-choice and promises to pass the Equal Rights Amendment within the first thirty days of her presidency. She is against big business and oppressive capitalism that promotes sweatshop labor and the abuse of our environment."
"She values people over profit," Slupski added.
Slupski also highlighted the historical significance of third party candidates.
"Both the 'major party' campaigns want voters to look past the issues and merely focus on the historic nature of their candidates: a woman Vice Presidential candidate and a black Presidential candidate," Slupski said. "Yet they also ask the American people to ignore another historic campaign, the campaign of Cynthia McKinney, a black woman from Georgia running alongside Rosa Calmente, a Puerto Rican woman from New York."
However, the decision to vote for a third party goes beyond just ideology.
"For many reasons, we are not likely to ever have a competitive third party in this country," said political science professor Brett O'Bannon.
He said many elements of the electoral system prevent a third party from gaining prominence, such as campaign finance rules and the Electoral College.
"The bottom line is that we have an electoral system that will just, over time, promote a two-party system," he said.
Each semester, O'Bannon illustrates the difficulties associated with a two party system to his comparative politics class. He asks his students to choose the party they will be affiliated with, and then asks how many students agree with that party a certain percentage of the time. He said he finds that students often disagree with their party at least a quarter to half of the time, frequently on significant issues.
"We're all willing to concede the point I'm trying to make there, that we have loads of room for at least a third party," he said. "Does it make sense that only two parties would meet all of the ideologies of 300 million people?"
O'Bannon said third parties have played a major role in recent elections: bringing up issues major parties don't.
To illustrate his point, O'Bannon gave the example of the new emphasis placed on the environment, which he attributes to the Green Party.
"Third parties introduce questions that then get picked up by the other two parties, and it then becomes an issue on the table that would not have been if that third party had been absent," he said.
Secondly, he said that third party candidates have played a spoiler role in recent elections, most famously the 2000 election. Many people believe that Nader took votes away from Al Gore, therefore causing George W. Bush to win the election.
Some voters struggle with their decision of who to vote for during the election. Sophomore Craig Melancon is debating whether to vote for Senator Barack Obama or Nader.
"I've found Obama and Biden, as well as the Democratic Party in general, to not be in line with what I want to see for America," Melancon said. "I would much rather elect Ralph Nader as president, because I feel that he represents my political leanings better than the other alternatives. However, while I would prefer to give my vote to Nader, I am debating whether or not I should vote for Obama as a way of keeping John McCain and Sarah Palin out of the White House."
O'Bannon said he feels voters are throwing away their vote by voting for a third party, as evidenced by the results of the 2000 election.
"I want my mea culpa from those people who said there wasn't a big enough of a difference between Gore and Bush that they felt they could vote their conscience and vote for a third party," he said.
http://www.thedepauw.com/media/storage/p...9212.shtml