TheOtherView
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A rumble of disgust can be heard in the United States every other year, if you listen closely. Third-party candidates all over the 50 states are trying to break into the bipolar system we fondly maintain from November to November.

While candidates from the two major parties usually duke it out over the airwaves, in the opinion pages and in the slick fliers that grace our mailboxes, the third-party candidates are often names we hardly recognize. This situation is only exacerbated when the major candidates receive lots of free advertising when they are profiled in the paper or featured on the news.

Third-party candidates rarely get to break into the mainstream press. A common complaint is the systematic exclusion of third party candidates from pre-election political debates. This denies them the exposure of their views as well as the chance to comment on those of other candidates.

While few third-party candidates receive more than a single-digit percentage of votes, they often focus on issues away from the tired pabulum passed off as party platform by the two candidates trying to win the popularity contest. Without debating the issues with their opponents, however, third parties will continue to founder in the dichotomized American political scene.

What, then, can be done to rectify the situation and bring the ideas, views and diversity third parties offer to the forefront?

First, debate among (not between) the candidates for any seat should be encouraged. While a debate among three or four has a different tone than between two, it also may force candidates to differentiate themselves on the issues, rather than focus on what their opponent has done wrong.

If candidates would run on issues, the tenor of the entire election season would shift. Moreover, major party candidates might actually broaden their appeal by showing they are neither as liberal nor as conservative as some of their third party counterparts who can often be considered radical.

Ultimately, democracy is best served when people with a variety of concerns and solutions are brought together. If we trust the public to vote for candidates, the public should also be entrusted with sifting through information provided by candidates in making those decisions, including those provided by parties other than Republicans and Democrats.

While voters can certainly seek out information on alternative candidates or even mount their own write-in campaigns, major media attention to third-party candidates by allowing for more than two podiums in a debate is arguably one of the most effective ways for voters to weigh the opponents against one another.

This is a staff editorial for the Iowa State Daily at Iowa State University.
This editorial was distributed by U-WIRE.