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Ted Cruz

7 (6.5%)

Rick Santorum

16 (14.8%)

Michelle Bachmann

13 (12%)

Chris Christie

23 (21.3%)

Rand Paul

49 (45.4%)

Total Members Voted: 107

[MetalSlimeHunt]

There's also one state-level party of note. Damn Vermonters, they never play by the rules.

[Max White]

Those of foreign origin should probably note just how insignificant these are, though: currently, among all seats in the legislative and executive branches of the American federal and state governments, of which there are 7,917, exactly one is held by a member of one of these parties: Fred Smith, Green Party state representative of Arkansas.

Isn't Arkansas one of those southern states where Republicans roam wild and free? How did a Green guy get in there?
My first instinct is that his name was first on the ballot, but without compulsory voting why would anybody show up just to tick the first name?

[lue]

Right now the two third parties that have the largest amount of support are the Constitution Party, which is just the Tea Party under its own banner, and the Libertarians, who are, well, libertarians. If you want a glorious liberal tomorrow, neither of them are very appealing.

Edit: Upon thinking a jiffy, I just realized that they are appealing, in a weird way- an extra left-wing party will just split Democratic votes and deliver results to the greater of the two major evils, while an extra right-wing party will split GOP votes and deliver results to the lesser. We'd need a couple constitutional amendments before third parties became viable- it's not just that they almost never get elected, it's that the American voting system creates very perverse incentives and results for voters when more than two parties join the fray.

Mixed-Member Proportional Representation for Congress!
Instant Runoff for President!
Objectively created congressional districts!

Blurggh...

[misko27]

Funny you would mention that.

You guys do technically have a third party, or at least one that I know of. I'm sure there are other equally insignificant parties.

The three minor parties of any significance are Green, Libertarian, and Constitution.

Beat me to the punch. There are many of them who hold state and local offices, and of course the most successful non-traditional party, "Unaffiliated". There are 2 Independent Senators, and there have been others across all national or state offices save the Presidential.

Since the end of Reconstruction, there have been a total of 30 U.S. Senators, 111 U.S. Representatives, and 28 Governors that weren't affiliated with a major party. Currently, there are two U.S. Senators (King and Sanders), and four major city Mayors. Hundreds of third-party officeholders exist at the local level (including those in nonpartisan positions who are affiliated with a third-party), including 146 Libertarian Party members[1] and 131 Green Party members.[2]

In addition, most mayoral races are non-partisan. Only Micheal Bloomberg of NYC is non-affiliated of the top 50 US cities, actually a independent.

There's also one state-level party of note. Damn Vermonters, they never play by the rules.

Several small parties throughout history have had electees, including to congress, but those were old parties.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Isn't Arkansas one of those southern states where Republicans roam wild and free? How did a Green guy get in there?
My first instinct is that his name was first on the ballot, but without compulsory voting why would anybody show up just to tick the first name?

Arkansas is in the strange position of being between the South and Midwest, but in neither.

Their governor is a Democrat, their Senate is divided 14 Democrats-21 Republicans, and their House is divided 51 Republicans-48 Democrats-1 Green.

[FearfulJesuit]

It makes more sense to think of Arkansas as the last gasp of the heavily Democratic Solid South. Some of its electoral results make very little sense if you think just in terms of the parties. It has one Democratic and one GOP senator. Its governor, Mike Beebe, is a Democrat...who won a landslide second term in 2010, winning every county in the state...but all four of its Congressional districts are held by the GOP (I think that was a 2012 development, though), and as MSH noted, its House is almost par, but its Senate is lopsided in favor of the GOP.

It isn't because Arkansas is between the Midwest and the South- I'd say it's very solidly Southern: Southern dialect and culture (plus the Ozarks, which are sort of an island of Appalachia), old cotton state, etc. For comparison, the state I now live in, Oklahoma, really is equal parts Southern and Midwestern...but it's probably the reddest state in the nation.

As for the Green representative: here's a map of Arkansas' House:



Note that the area of Arkansas closest to the Mississippi is very heavily Democratic. That's because it's mostly African-American.

[lue]

Ooh, while we're sharing maps:

Why Obama won with a very red-looking US. The FAQ page linked to from there explains some things you may have noticed, and also includes a link to the generating software (which I'm now considering downloading and playing with).

[Max White]

So not exactly relating to the entire deficit thing, but opinions?

[misko27]

Between the dueling top comments vying for the opposite extremist supremacy, that guys face, and the general lack of unbias in the title, My Brain revolted and demanded I set fire to the laptop after about 20 seconds; so I will have to ask someone else what it is about.

[Max White]

Yea, it is pretty off the deep end. To be honest I'm having trouble finding any serious source of information about these deals...

[FearfulJesuit]

Time flies when you're having fun! 

[RedKing]

So not exactly relating to the entire deficit thing, but opinions?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership

There's something there, but the vid is kind of anti-globalization hyperbole. Also highly ingenuous to insinuate that this is some American-led secret agreement. It started as 2005 trade pact between Brunei, Chile, Singapore and New Zealand. Not exactly the evil masterminds of the Pacific Rim (no offense, Kiwis). In 2008 the US said "Hmm...me might want to sign on to that." And suddenly a bunch of other countries said "Oh. Yeah, we should probably join that too then."

China is NOT excluded, they simply haven't begun negotiations yet to join, but have expressed interest. My guess is that it would be a longer road for them because they probably don't meet a number of criteria regarding economic transparency and open markets.


Where I do think they may have credible complaints is in the intellectual property realm (see the Wikipedia article for more detail).

[Helgoland]

I've got a sneaking suspicion the third party people want isn't my own brand of social-democratic, academic-run, Moldbug-venerating pseudofascism...

Who's Moldbug?
(And how does semi-fascist social democracy work? Unless I'm the dictator...)

[Morrigi]

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/house-senate-saturday-session-government-shutdown-debt-ceiling-98218.html?ml=po_r

Welp.

[PTTG??]

I think we are looking at a very troubling political future where an irrelevant minority can hold the nation hostage. I'm not sure that the Tea Party will ever accept the law of the land, though I suspect that one day before the shutdown there will be a miraculous change of heart and somebody will win (and not a day before).

But what happens two months from now, when the Tea Party doesn't want a federal gay marriage bill? Or doesn't want to legalize pot? Or wants to ban interracial marriages again?

This is going to keep happening unless we get a new system.