All eyes focus on presidential elections, which is naïve if we are to have change. The president of the United States is only one-third of that balance of power; and without congressional backing of their third, they can be rendered as a lame duck.

This country desperately needs to vote-in congressional candidates that are truly from a third party. American’s look to presidents as saviors, a king worship, which is a path to little change. I originally came from a country that has a parliamentary system. There are five parties in that parliament, but there are two large parties, one just slightly below large, and two other parties that make decent showings (roughly 33%-32%-25%-7%-3%.)

In America, when legislation is proposed or passed, often a third party can be the deal maker or breaker! But there is more to it than a vote — the two big parties have to crawl to the third party to get the necessary votes if they need their legislation to pass! The third party can then demand compromises and improvements, or amendments on a bill or law, or even nixing portions to assist with their majority vote. In the House, for example, if 25 or so third party representatives, if elected, could also then do the negotiating and compromising, shifting the two main parties to make deals to get legislation next pushed to the Senate. If there were simply five third party members in the US Senate, they would at times have power to be the tipping point on the two-thirds majority, and also instigating negotiations. We need a third party of its own regardless if there is a third party president to represent them.

We know that the ugly truth of the American political system is that two parties control it, the two corporate / capitalist parties, and they write and pass laws for the elites, not for the majority.

Getting Americans to understand the power of a third party, even if small at first, could eventually take the lead and become a third balance of power from the electorate’s perspective. This will have to be built from the bottom up. Then a candidate, such as Bernie Sanders, will be able represent a real party and not have to compromise to the Democrat-Republican (near single party state) by himself; besides he will have many, or all, of his policies rejected by the Democrats once elected.