Originally Posted by rubber soul

There have been third party candidates in the past, most successfully, Theodore Roosevelt and his Bull Moose party in 1912. He didn't win but he did garner more votes and electoral votes than the Republican incumbent, William Howard Taft. Others who ran haven't been as successful, but a few have been able to influence the election for the eventual winner (Wallace for Nixon, Nader for Bush).

We have plenty of various political parties in the US, but the Dems and GOP have had a lock on the populace (mostly by raising money) for well over a hundred years now. I think people really want a Centrist party since neither party is willing to nominate someone closer to the center (say what you will about Biden, but, trust me, he does swing left). Unfortunately, the major parties have always found a way to keep the other parties out.

Would be interesting to see a Manchin or even a Romney run as an independent. Don't think either could win, but they could possibly make some noise, much like Ross Perot did in 1992. (And, to a lesser extent, 1996).

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.