Majority of Americans think there should be a third party

[Redalgo]

It has historically been one of the fundamental characteristics of the American political structure that unlike other Western countries you never got a Labour party. Why should it happen now, when trade unions are weaker than ever? Who should organize it?

(it seems like wishful thinking on your part..)

I am inclined to agree, and would add that most social democrats in the United States have already been co-opted into the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Socialists, Greens, and Libertarians have poor prospects for gaining traction in the polls because their voters can be courted by one of the major parties (which is something they will attempt at the very least for strategic reasons) if any of those minor factions starts to cost them elections by splitting the vote.

My suspicion is that with a multiparty system the U.S. would see at least a third of Democrats switch over to left-wing groups, allowing those who remain to better court moderate Independents. Getting libertarians out of the Republican Party might also help that group, as well - enabling them to shed some of their less palatable economic stances and appeal to lower-income earners who often like conservative values but are spooked off by the free market and Tea Party types.

At this point the best chance the U.S. has for developing a Labour-like faction is in young people being skeptical of capitalism. It is possible that they will gradually form a powerful democratic socialist / social democratic bloc within the Democratic Party, though it may be temporary seeing as people who grow up in the States after Millennials could experience economic conditions that do not incline them to be quite so critical of the establishment as young adults are now.


@Angus:

I agree with most of your post, though one issue with two-party systems is how they become de-facto one-party systems in many voting districts over time. My residence falls within state legislative districts that are consistently voting 70-80% for Republicans. The fact that Democrats run is a symbolic gesture - never a serious challenge. The tables are turned in many other places, as I imagine you are well aware. Even when a race gets competitive, we end up electing a bloke by whom nearly half the population does not feel well-represented. Maybe a lot of folks are okay with it but I certainly feel disenfranchised in an informal and indirect, yet institutionalized, apparently socially-acceptable way.

[Redalgo]

Chuck Baldwin is great, I really wish he would run again.  I would love even more to see Baldwin make it on to the debate stage against Jeb and Hillary, I can only dream.

Maybe I am missing something here but Chuck lives in my county and I can tell ya he is pretty hardcore. He wants Montana to ignore Supreme Court rulings on some issues, unilaterally seize all federal lands in the state, have immigration policies created in Helena in defiance of the Constitution, and uses militant rhetoric - encouraging Montanans to prepare for a revolution against the federal government, which he has insisted will impose martial law at some point in the near future.

From some of his statements he also seems to think the federal government wants to take away our guns, is using FEMA as a cover to prepare secret prisons for political dissenters, might have orchestrated 9/11, and is in cahoots with a shadowy band of socialist conspirators who allegedly run the United Nations. He has gone out of his way to offer outspoken condemnation of Islam and homosexuality, too.

Though I do not know how much overlap there is between their respective views, Baldwin has a strong following both in and out of church here among white supremacists and neo-Nazis. One of the political events he was a speaker at earlier this year even featured a book burning, though perhaps he did not participate in that part of the venue? It can be tricky figuring him out since so many his comments are controversial and could be easily taken out of context by people wanting to score cheap political points.

Libertarians have an internal divide over the question of abortion's permissibility. You might be better off finding someone amidst their number than from the ranks of Constitution Party members. That is not to say there isn't anyone respectable there... but finding someone sensible that far out on the fringes may be just as hard on the Right as it is on the Left for those trying to find a socialist or Green candidate who does not go on and on about corporate and ruling elite conspiracy theories or vilify the rich in general.