Independent Party

Does the Independent Party Really Offer a Third Option?

The Independent Party, otherwise known as the 3rd party, sprang up when the predominant two other parties failed to meet some citizens' needs. Since the turn of the 21st Century, the two predominate parties have been the Democratic and the Republican. The Independent Party runs on a platform that is largely dictated by the current leading political figure. Because the Independent Party does not run on any one platform, the party tends to be more outspoken about current issues that face the nation.

If you are looking for some basic information about Independent Party or political movements in general, here is a brief overview of information that you should be aware of:

Lead by Leaders

The Independent Party is widely known to be a party that is lead by leaders within the political movements of the times. While the Independent Party can cover a variety of issues, it usually happens that the leaders are individuals that have been elected by a sea of their peers to take on the leadership roles. Generally, for each major election, the Independent Party leader will take on one or two major issues to tackle.

Issues du Jour

The issues that the Independent Party runs on vary. The Democratic and Republican Parties have very set agendas and political views that remain constant throughout each election. However, the Independent Party runs on a platform that can change from year to year. Being that they are independent, politicians within the Independent Party select which issues they feel are most important to their communities and will work to bring attention to those issues in each election.

The Independent Party in Leadership Roles

The Independent Party has generally not been elected into leadership roles. This is not because the candidates are not qualified and the issues that they argue are not pertinent enough to the community, but rather, because many Americans are entrenched in their Democratic or Republican Party and refuse to move in one direction or the other. Therefore, many argue that the Independent Party takes away crucial votes from these other parties, but never gets more than 4% of the vote for their own people.

The Independent Party was established by the people as a means to try to elect leaders that are not oriented as puppets of their political party. As such, the Independent Party is generally viewed as the party that is a little more loose in structure and can go in any direction. Many people believe that the Independent Party is more of a middle-of-the-road political party and can bat for either side, depending on the political climate of the day and therefore, many people will not vote for the members of the Independent Party in elections.