Those suggesting that third- and fourth-party voting is reasonable should look toAmerican political history. Like James Madison himself, we may not like the influence of “factions,”but the two-party system in U.S. politics is a tradition that is as old as the republic itself. There has been only one successful challenge to the two-party system, and that is the emergence of the anti-slaveryRepublican party in the 1840s and 1850s that organized to fill the vacuum left by the implosion of the Whig party.
If the Libertarians and the Greens were serious parties thatwanted to challenge the two-party system, they would be organizing and running candidates up and down the ballot in every election, every year. But they don’t. Instead, they nominate shockingly unserious people like Gary Johnson (“What is Aleppo?”) andJill Stein,a putative physician who doesn’t support vaccination.
I wish Republicans had taken their responsibility seriously, but instead they nominated a person who is manifestly unfit for the presidency. There is only one serious candidate in this election, and her name is Hillary Clinton.
Ann M. Little,Greeley
The writer is an associate professor of history at Colorado State University.
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