If all those voters who are dissatisfied with the APPARENT two party system would educate themselves on the alternatives, instead of just sitting on their collective asses watching the major media outlets, they would actually KNOW about these other parties. Instead, most Americans let the media inform them, which is one of the biggest disservices our news media does to Americans.

Low information voters have nobody to blame but themselves.

And when you consider that since 1968, the voter turn out each year has been less than 60% of the eligible voters, that means that more than 40% of the population are NOT voting Democrat or Republican. That 40% block alone could (as a whole) have defeated any one of the candidates who took half of the the votes actually cast.

Yes, there are many factors that currently give the big two parties an advantage, but the factor that helps them the most is the apathetic laziness of those who don't vote.

Think about it, Obama won with only about 22% of the population voting for him (since more than 40% stayed at home).

The second reason the big two have the advantage is that the other parties don't get discussed in the news media, and then you add in the fact that our election system is so controlled by money it is fucking retarded at this point (Citizens United really screwed us on this one). Our educational system fails as well, as most students never hear about any parties in the US beyond the GOP and the Democrats.

But that does not negate the fact that they are there, and that they are usually on the ballots in every state.

Voters need to educate themselves, find the party that is most closely tied to their beliefs (plenty of poll/quiz type sites online that will help on that), and then VOTE. Sitting at home on election day helps nobody but the GOP and the Democrats (and thus the plutocrats who really run this country).


Personally, I believe voting should be mandatory. Jail time or 100% taxation of income for those who don't would be a great penalty IMO. Revocation of citizenship would be nice as well (yes, that means potential deportation!!!). Voting is not a right, but an OBLIGATION.

Not voting is not a protest, no matter how some people view it in their twisted little minds. It is laziness and an abdication of their franchise, and only serves to support those they are "protesting" against. Protesting comes from ACTION, not INACTION. To believe otherwise is about as sensible as thinking the Earth is flat (or less than 10K years old).

A real protest against the Ds and Rs would be to vote for someone else. Those names are all on the ballot, it isn't as if the other candidates names are invisible when you go to vote. By voting for one of them, you are doing more to fight the (as you called it) EFFECTIVE TWO PARTY SYSTEM. If more lazy Americans voted, it wouldn't be as EFFECTIVE as it is. Instead, you do exactly what the Dems and Republicans want, nothing. The big two parties just sit back and laugh at you thinking "sure protest against us running everything by not even trying to get someone else in power."

Sorry, but to consider that a protest is just retarded thinking. Every single vote cast for a "third party" adds up, and serves as a much greater protest against the tyranny of the Republicans and Democrats than not voting.

BTW: there is one state that has voters active, and intelligent, enough to realize that our politics is not just about the Ds and Rs: Vermont. Bernie Sanders has been winning elections there for a long time, and he has neither a D nor an R next to his name. So this effective two party system really didn't work out as a two party system in Vermont. All because educated voters actually cast votes.