Gurtler 1

Paul Gurtler
Professor Coco
English 1001
November 13, 2016
Audience: My audience is everyone who votes because the electoral college affects everyone and
not just third parties
Preface: Did I include too many long quotes? Did I improperly cite or use in-text citations
wrong? Does my focus wander too much? Green is outside information yellow is my
interpretation peer-reviewed by Carolyn Payton
Americas Third Parties
Children today generally grow up thinking that the Republican party and the Democratic
party are the only political parties, that is until their first history class. This is largely because the
Republican and Democrat parties are the two biggest parties in the United States and together
control most of the government. However, the major parties of today were not always these giant
imposing parties. For instance, the Republican Party of today only became a major party when
Abraham Lincoln took the presidential election of 1860 from the pre-existing Whig Party. The
Republican and Democratic parties are not the only political parties that exist today. The U.S. has
a few national parties this includes the Republican and Democratic parties, but we also have
Libertarian, Constitutional, and Green. In the mainstream media, these third-parties are mostly
portrayed as crazy outsiders who dont have a chance at the presidency. These mainstream media
outlets are generally biased to a singular political party. Two prime examples are Fox News and
CNN; for instance Fox News ignores anything bad about Trump, and CNN avoids Clinton
scandals like a groundhog avoids its shadow. To make matters worse, when Americans go to vote

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for their president, their vote doesnt affect whos going to be president. The founding fathers
created something called the Electoral College. It was created to give smaller states a voice and
to ensure the common people dont make a mistake. The Electoral College helps along the
mentality that another third-party candidate doesnt have a chance at the presidency. It does so
indirectly through the process of choosing electors and the laws governing it. Although, that does
not mean third-party candidates have not been elected. There have been a few cases of third
parties getting close to being elected, but they are few and far between. So, is the current method
of electing presidents unfair to third parties? If it is, how so?
The Electoral College is something that should be on everyones mind as they vote.
Everyone should remember that Americas democracy is not a direct democracy, but a
representative democracy. As with all representative democracies, not everyone is happy with
their representative. Dissatisfaction for the Electoral College has been increasing over the last
few years, with Bush beating Al Gore, and with Trump beating Clinton. The Electoral College
does not necessarily represent what each states populace desires, instead it represents what the
perceived majority wants. Most states electoral votes are awarded to a candidate on a winner
take all fashion. Only two states differ from this norm, Their allocation on a winner take all
basis is not exactly a new idea but it did develop over time; indeed two states, Maine and
Nebraska, do it differently. (Roff) The electors are not required to vote along with the winner of
the popular vote in their state, these electors are called faithless electors. There have been several
attempts to change the laws to eliminate the chances of faithless electors. One idea that gained
support is to change the laws governing the awarding of electors to insure those selected are the
ones declared the winner of the popular vote. (Roff) This new law alone would solve many of
the problems people have with the electoral college. It is unfortunate that changing how the

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media represents news is much more difficult. The media labels states as either red, for the
Republican party or blue, for the Democratic. There is no third color for any other possible
parties. The fact that todays news networks represent the party each state votes for by labeling it
red or blue can affect everyones thoughts. Even if you dont initially realize it. Maybe dont use
2nd person as a transition
Seeing the states as either red or blue hurts third-party candidates the most. People think
most southern states are hardline Republican, but in reality southern states have a lot of liberals.
This red or blue depiction does not represent the states true political leanings and only serves to
encourage people of one party while discouraging other parties. There was a study done to see
just how the red and blue labeling affected peoples judgement of those states. One of the
findings was that [a]ll states are also depicted as less moderate than they are, polarizing them
toward one or the other extreme. Thus, RedBlue depictions could cause the citizens of moderate
red states to be perceived as more conservative and those of moderate blue states to be perceived
as more liberal. (Konrath Rutchick Smyth) Before the media came up with this bipartisan
depiction of the political powers, the U.S. had elected one third party president, and several
almost presidents from third-parties. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president. This
new party pushed the old Whig party to the side. One famous president created a third party
because a major party rejected him and he wanted to run for a third term.
Theodore Roosevelt was our 26th president. He had two successful terms in office and he
wanted a third term. The Republican party however, did not share this desire. Instead they
nominated William Taft on their ticket. Roosevelt had a large and devoted voter base though, and

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together they founded the Bull Moose Party. Many have written about Theodore; however I find
this description to be the most fitting.
Roosevelt stormed out of the convention, his enraged followers in tow. He quickly
accepted the nomination of a newly formed third party, the National Progressives. "The
old parties are husks, with no real soul within either," he told his supporters that August
in Chicago. Roosevelt laid out a grand platform, preaching economic reform and
corporate regulation, stressing protection for the urban poor. Asked by a reporter about
his health, Roosevelt quipped, "I'm fit as a bull moose." Is a quote in a quote a good idea?
With a snort, the Bull Moose Party was born. (Kent)
Not every third-presidential candidate has the fortune of getting so close to the
presidency. In todays world running for president is nigh impossible without the support of one
of the major parties, or millions of dollars for a campaign.
The massive mainstream news networks today are either entirely leftist in the portrayal of
events, or entirely right. There is no unbiased mainstream media for the majority of people to
access. As a result, news networks report in favor of either the republican party or the democratic
party. They refuse to give third-party any mainstream headlines unless its bad press because
third parties are a threat to both major parties. It appears almost undemocratic the way that voters
are almost forced to vote in favor of one of two parties. Those who dont conform are labeled as
outsiders and are ostracized. In the most recent election we had a viable candidate for president
running on the Libertarian ticket. His name was Gary Johnson. Johnson and his running mate
both had two terms as Republican governors in Democratic states, and both were still popular in
their states when they vacated their seats. Despite these qualifications, they could not overcome

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the bipartisan control over the debate committee, media bias, or the fact that both bipartisan
campaign budgets were much larger than the Libertarian budget.
Gary Johnson had to overcome some steep odds to even have chance at presidency. He
faced the same problems as Ralph Nader. There are no uniform standards to get on a ballot in
each state; instead each state has their own standards.
Those are just the raw number barriers. But there are also excessive filing fees, early
deadlines, and administrative hurdles. For example, in Pennsylvania, the state requires signature
forms on special colored paper; it only provided four hundred forms though our volunteers
needed more than two thousand. The state would not accept forms downloaded from the Internet.
In West Virginia and Georgia, the filing fee is $4,000! In Michigan, petition forms had to be on
odd-sized paper (8-1/2 by 13 inches). (Nader)
Not only are those requirements in place, but politicians in power will do anything to help
prevent those requirements from being met. Such as In Mississippi, the mayor of Tupelo
stopped our petitioners from working in the town square at a festival on the Fourth of July In
Ohio, our petitioners were stopped from collecting signatures at a public market in West
Cleveland. (Nader) However, these were not the only obstacles that Johnson faced. He was also
running against one of the richest business men of this century, and a career politician whose
husband had been president. In order to get close to the presidency Johnson had to acquire the
same name recognition as his two major opponents have.
The Morning Consult poll, released Tuesday, found that 61% of registered voters couldn't
identify who Mr. Johnson was, while just 31% correctly identified him as a politician. After

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being told he was a politician, only 17% of respondents correctly identified Mr. Johnson as a
former governor and just 18% said he was a candidate for president. (Tau)
Johnsons biggest chance was to make it to the presidential debate stage. However, the
committee that controls who gets to debate is supported entirely by Republicans and Democrats.
Johnson was a threat to both parties, so naturally he didnt get to debate despite the campaigning
he did to swing public opinion. The following is an excerpt from an article written by Johnsons
campaign manager. It highlights the fact that the commission is a fairly new construct and that
the major parties are what controls it. The ritual of presidential debates overseen by the CPD
may seem like a long-enshrined tradition, but it isn't. Established less than 30 years ago, the
commission is a private charity supported by the Democratic and Republican parties. (Nielson)
I suggest taking note that it is a called charity, and not a commission made by the U.S.
government.
Overall, I think our method of electing presidents needs to change. Maybe it changes by
aiming to help third parties get national attention, or by limiting the main parties. How it changes
is up to the people to decide. The Founding Fathers wanted democracy, and I am not sure that
todays system is what they hoped for. Abraham Lincoln started us down the right path, Teddy
Roosevelt was a big chance to break the bipartisan control, lets hope that Gary Johnson was not
our last chance to break free of the red and blue.

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Fix to MLA format

Works Cited
Garber, Kent. "Three-Way Race Of 1912 Had It All. (Cover Story)." U.S. News & World
Report 144.3 (2008): 43-44. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.
Nader, Ralph, and Theresa Amato. "So You Want To Run For President? Ha! Barriers To ThirdParty Entry." National Civic Review 90.2 (2001): 163. Academic Search Complete. Web.
10 Nov. 2016.
Nielson, R. (2016, Sep 16). Bring out a third lectern for Gary Johnson. Wall Street
Journal Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1819621130?
accountid=12154
Roff, Peter. "Rethinking The Electoral College." U.S. News Digital Weekly 7.2 (2015):
17. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.
Rutchick, Abraham M., Joshua M. Smyth, and Sara Konrath. "Seeing Red (And Blue): Effects
Of Electoral College Depictions On Political Group Perception." Analyses Of Social
Issues & Public Policy 9.1 (2009): 269-282. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov.
2016.

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Tau, B. (2016, Jun 07). Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has low recognition numbers, polls
find; majority of Americans have never heard of party's presidential nominee, two
surveys show. Wall Street Journal (Online)Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1794187318?accountid=12154