"On The Other Claw...."

Well, you're just factually wrong. Third parties win fairly often in state and local elections, which due to the federal nature of US government is pretty substantial. I know that many people seem to think the only office of importance in the United States is President, but that's not actually true. I tell people who want to get involved in politics that local politics is often where it's at – you have a much better chance of influencing it than on a state or national level and because of the federal nature of our system, communities have surprising amounts of power. But just because a third party can't win the Presidency doesn't mean that they can't win anywhere, and this is even more true with states that allow citizen referendum where third parties can quite successfully campaign on issues.

Second, third parties serve a traditional role in US democracy. If you've got a third party constantly sucking 5% of the voting population, or even 2%, of the voting population away from one of the big parties, this is a huge deal. It serves as a warning to whatever party the third party is ideologically closest to that they're closing the core. Part of the reason the Democratic Party in the US is so impotent is because they have largely ignored the needs of people who have gone over to the Green or Peace and Justice parties (the Libertarian Party, I believe, draws about the same from would-be Democrats and Republicans, and is a wash, which is why it gets ignored). The people who care about politics enough to join a third party would otherwise be your most committed members, which is the reason why the Republicans did that whole “Contract with America” to get people from Ross Perot's party back into their camp. These really aren't the people you want in third parties, they're the people who have the drive and energy needed to “energize the base”, which is the key to victory. Third parties serve this function quite openly as a matter of tradition.

I could go on, but I'm not going to. By serving up the two biggest issues – you're factually wrong and there is a traditional function that the third parties serve in the two party system – I believe my point is made clearly.

And what can I say? At least we're not CANADIAN and having our governments jumping through hoops for the Queen of England! Talk about something that makes a mockery out of democracy and law!