What does it take to sink a political party?

Because parties other than the Democrats and Republicans are extremely marginalized in the US. They don't win.

In that case, that doesn't make them a joke. Calling them jokes is what makes them jokes.

edited 20th Jan '11 12:54:49 PM by RawPower

@Raw: He's a joke because he barely gets any votes every election, yet he keeps running even though he's not getting anywhere. It's telling that his most notable political achievement is unintentionally helping someone else win the Presidency.

You're making fun of him for being a Determinator? Anyway, doesn't he get financial compensation proportional to the votes he gets?

Nope. In the U.S., there's no funding for third parties to partake in elections, as far as I know.

What does he gain from this, then? I mean, if people go so far as making fun of him, it can't even be for the ego...

I think he's hoping that one day voters will get fed up enough with the Ds and Rs to give him a chance to get elected and change the country.

If he keeps running until he's 140 years old, might happen.

Article!

Unlikely, absent radical change that will not be abetted by putting himself uselessly on the federal ballot. It would be more logical if he were deliberately putting himself out as a spoiler - that is, to divert votes that would otherwise go to an undesirable candidate; although if that's his intention he failed miserably given that he arguably helped one of the most anti-environmental Presidents in modern history get elected.

Most likely, he's running simply to make a point.

I mean, if people go so far as making fun of him, it can't even be for the ego...

Around here we've got the guy who never rises above 2% in popular elections, except for the Internet and university cities (he got as high as 4% in one of the largest of the latter). Anyone else considers him a joke, he considers himself the Only Sane Man Surrounded by Idiots.

Whoever programmed you must've slipped on the part where you'd be installed knowledge of human motivations. ;]

edited 20th Jan '11 2:07:38 PM by lordGacek

"Make a point"?

And, in order to act as a spoiler, he should fake the ideas of the hated candidate if he wants to eat at their base. Therefore an actual spoiler will never be a declared spoiler.

In fact, the French Front National was deliberately secretly created by the French Socialist president Miterrand in order to act as a spoiler to the rest of the right. It has worked erratically well, since once they got more votes than the socialists in the first turn of the presidential elections...

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I'm starting to forget what page 1 looked like but..

"What does it take to sink a political party?"

The formation of a movement that diverges from the party strongly in one political direction while still being firmly on the same wing when put on the political axis that compares them to the other main political party.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

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Stay on topic, please.

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So, being a spoiler can actually guarantee your survival.

Hey, I'm told Vetinari pulled that one a lot.

I didn't know that about the National Front, although I can't say I'm entirely surprised (political movements of that sort are usually at least partly the result of astroturfing).

Edit: Fun fact: Firefox's spellchecker doesn't recognize astroturfing as a word. Or spellchecker, for that matter.

edited 20th Jan '11 8:05:23 PM by silver2195

What is the correct procedure to appeal an "Off Topic Thumping"? Is there one?

That's off-topic for this thread, you know. Irony. You might try a holler, but if the mod in question erased the content of your post there's no way to retrieve it unless you saved it somewhere.

Some Sort Of Troper: I guess a major scandal can ditch a party. Also, if it keeps losing voter share as happened with the Ld U in Switzerland it might eventually disband. Finally, if that party was in government for a very long time and is then dumped might have difficulties surviving the loss of government power.

In Finland, a party is dropped out of party register if it's membership drops below 5000 and/or they don't gain ahy seats in two consecutive parliamentary elections. They may attempt to re-regiter if they regain 5 000 members and/or gain seats in elections.

As for complete dismissal, it can be either total lost of support or ideological platform. For example, Finland used to have "Finnish Party" and "Swedish Party" that sough to improve their respective language positions. After Finland become independent, FP lost it's platform(Finnish became official language so they lsot their main point) where ras SW reformed into Swedish National Party. Many people from FP migrated to National Coalition Party.

Another example is Young Finns(1994-1999) that managed to survive trough one election and then lost following elections and disbanded.

However, just being removed from registry doesn't mean party doesn't exist anymore. "Kommunistinen Työväenpuolue – Rauhan ja Sosialismin Puolesta"("Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism", that's the full name but I am going to call them Communist) hasn't gained any seats since it was formed 1988 and has been dropped and re-registered atleast twice.

Basicly, once your party either loses all it's support or loses it's ideological platform, it will either need to reform, merge with existing party or dissolve. I think that answers OP.

Make Guido Westerwelle join permanently.