Damn straight this country needs third party participation, Fishpicker. But as long as the corporados own and operate the duopoly, and thereby the government, they won't be allowing any third party candidates to participate. Look at how the Democratic party has interfered with Nader even being legally put on the ballot? Or how about the idea of including the candidates from the largest third parties to participate in the debates? Fat chance of that! Not in the wake of Ross Perot and Jesse Ventura!

If Nader had been allowed to run a campaign without the legal intereference from the Democrats, and to participate in the debates, it is conceivable he could have pulled as many or more votes as Perot did when he got 18%. But no political party in power will ever allow a new party/independent candidate to succeed in bringing about true reform of a corrupt political system.

Northern Ireland is the perfect example of how reformist political parties get treated by the status quo political parties.

We saw in Ireland just how fast a legitimate political party can wreak havoc among the status quo politicians, when Sinn Fein was allowed to function as a regular political party, and started giving the pathetically wishy washy SDLP and Alliance parties at the polls. The result has been a circling of the wagons between the Brits, the Unionists, the SDLP, and the Alliance party in the North, and Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, and Labour party in the South, to keep Sinn Fein from making any political inroads north or south.

Which has also resulted in a decade long stalemate in the peace process, being effectively blocked by the mainstream political parties.

Same thing is happening here in the US. Neither Republicrats or Dempublicans will risk allowing for a dynamic where a third party or independent candidate could win the way Jesse Ventura won in Minnesota--which was to win the office by splitting the vote three ways, instead of two, and squeaking in with a handful more votes than the other two guys by capitalizing on widespread discontent among traditional non-voters who get energized when an outsider galvanizes public opinion.