That's the conventional wisdom. Got any proof that it's true? Any examples from history?
/johnny
Don’t you think the topic is worthy of discussion rather than confrontation? Meaning to or not thats how your reply comes across.
I think, and we see this in Europe where winning local elections is attainable but the higher offices are still not breached by smaller parties. Unlike Europe we don’t have a history of forming ‘grand coalitions’ to form a government, (Please nobody bring up some obscure Whig related story. In Europe its the norm.), so we would be looking at uncharted waters. So the UKIP gets a voice but the equivalent here probably doesn’t. I say this because we all see what the current state of the Republican party is. Should a 3rd party take a few senate seats and 20-30 House seats its inevitable the two established parties will work to minimize any impact the new party will have. Look at the Repubs already doing this with those who identify with the Tea Party in Congress.
Truly winning a voice in the government as a 3rd party and not being told to go sit in the corner while the adults take care of business should take quite a long time unless currently elected members bolt to join it. That foundation is, in my opinion, necessary to cut the waiting time.
“That’s the conventional wisdom. Got any proof that it’s true? Any examples from history?”
Exhibit A: the Libertarian Party. Started in 1971. Has yet to win a governorship, US Senate seat or a seat in Congress. Still keeps on plugging away but has largely been a failure in the electoral realm. That’s not really why they exist, but viewed from strictly that perspective they’ve accomplished little.