Third parties in the United States are political parties other than the two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, that participate in national and state elections. Third parties all have candidates for the 2008 president election. There usually isn’t a lot of media-attention for the third parties. Although third parties rarely win national elections, they can have an effect on them. Third parties can draw attention to issues that may be ignored by the majority parties. If the issue finds resonance with the voters, one or more of the major parties may adopt the issue into its own party platform. Also, a third party may be used by the voter to cast a protest vote as a form of referendum on an important issue. Third parties may also help voter turnout bringing more people to the polls. Third party candidates at the top of the ticket can help to draw attention to other party candidates down the ballot, helping them to win local or state office.

 

The third parties are:

 

-Constitution Party

-Green Party

-Libertarian Party

-Socialist Party USA

-Independent candidates

 

Here’s a brief overview of the parties:

 

The Constitution Party is a paleoconservative United States political party. It was founded in 1992.

According to ballot access expert Richard Winger, the editor of Ballot Access News, it ranks third nationally amongst all United States political parties in registered voters, with 366,937 registered members as of November 2006. The Constitution Party advocates a Bible-based platform which it claims to reflect original intent of the U.S. Constitution and the principles of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

 

In the United States, the Green Party has been active as a third party since the 1980s. The party first gained widespread public attention during Ralph Nader's presidential runs in 1996 and 2000. Currently, the primary national Green Party organization in the U.S. is the Green Party of the United States, which has eclipsed the earlier Greens/Green Party USA. There are Green Parties in many nations, with total membership being about a million people. Greens emphasize environmentalism, non-hierarchical participatory democracy, social justice, respect for diversity, peace and nonviolence.

 

The Socialist Party USA describes itself as a democratic socialist party. It is opposed to both capitalism and authoritarian Communism. The Party's principles and platform call for the elimination of the power of big business through public ownership and workers' control, production for use instead of profit, and the establishment of a classless society. The party is also strongly committed to internationalism and the struggle against racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, and homophobia. The party calls for the abolition of the death penalty and for the replacement of the prison-industrial system with restorative justice.

As a multi-tendency party, the party rejects those models of organization often called Leninist, as well as the practices commonly called "democratic centralism", meaning that SP members are often free to disagree publicly with party policy. However, dues-paying members are required to abide by the SP's Statement of Principles.

The party is strongly committed to gender egalitarianism and advocating an end to gender oppression and stereotypes in general. It requires gender parity among its officers and organizes pro-choice activities. Its platform considers abortion a part of women's healthcare rights.

 

The Libertarian Party is an American political party founded on December 11, 1971. It is one of the largest continuing Third parties in the United States, claiming more than 200,000 registered voters and more than 600 people in public office,  including mayors, county executives, county-council members, school-board members and other local officials. It has more people in office than all other third parties combined. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects that group's particular brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration across borders, and non-interventionism in foreign policy that respects freedom of trade and travel to all foreign countries.

Key tenets of the Libertarian Party platform include the following:

-Adoption of laissez-faire principles which would reduce the state's role in the economy. This would include, among other things, markedly reduced taxation, privatization of Social Security and welfare (for individuals, as well as elimination of "corporate welfare"), markedly reduced regulation of business, rollbacks of labor regulations, and reduction of government interference in foreign trade.

-Minimal government bureaucracy. The Libertarian Party states that the government's responsibilities should be limited to the protection of individual rights from the initiation of force and fraud.

-Strong civil liberties positions, including privacy protection, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and sexual freedom.

-No government interference in reproductive rights, including access to abortion. (Right-libertarians and Libertarians for Life usually do not support abortion, but they believe that the federal government has no say in regulating the procedure).

-Support for the unrestricted right to the means of self-defense (such as gun rights, the right to carry mace or pepper spray, etc).

-Abolition of laws against what are called victimless crimes: (prostitution, driving without a seatbelt, use of controlled substances, fraternization, etc.).

-Opposition to regulations on how businesses should run themselves (e.g., smoking)

-A foreign policy of free trade and non-interventionism.

-Support for a fiscally responsible government including a hard currency (commodity-based money supply as opposed to fiat currency).

-Abolition of all forms of taxpayer-funded assistance (welfare, food stamps, public housing, etc.)

 

 

Independent candidates are politicians who are not affiliated with any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between the Democratic and Republican parties, they may hold an extremist viewpoint that goes beyond that of either major parties, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they don't feel either party addresses. Amongst the independent candidates are at this moment:Ralph Nader, John Taylor Bowls, and Ruth Bryant White, but there are several other candidates.

 

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