Third Party Pod: Recent Episodes
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Third Party Pod hopes to be your one-stop shop in keeping up with 3rd parties in US politics. With over half of voters neither identifying as Republican or Democrat and with the major parties nominating literally the two most disliked candidates of all time, it seems clear that people want to know who else has something to say. That’s where we come in.
Spoiler alert, we’ll be talking about the spoiler effect as in “Did Ralph Nader spoil the 2000 election?” We’ll be debating who should be allowed in the presidential debates. And we’ll be ranking our choice of voting systems. We hope to create a truly open discussion about what are likely to be some of the most quirky and innovative ideas in politics. Even the most entrenched party loyalists are bound to find this stuff interesting.
Theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QOf0gUt69k
This week we discuss the history of political parties including their relationship to the US constitution and the formation of the original major parties.
We discuss the shortcomings of first past the post (winner take all) voting systems and compare it to ranked choice voting. We'll also do a little coverage of so local elections that could bring ranked choice voting to parts of the United States.
We discuss the presidential debates and the relationship they've had to US political parties. Everything from Ross Perot, to The League of Women Voters, to Jill Stein's arrest in 2012 comes up.
Introducing Third Party Pod! Your one stop shop to the ins and outs of third parties in US politics, brought to you by Andre Stackhouse and Michael Padilla.