It may be of interest to those reading on the "NO" side of this debate that I believe a third-party candidate should be president. Third party candidates should also be State Representatives, State Senators, U.S. Congressmen, U.S. Senators, Mayors, Dog Catchers and so on. However, I do not believe a third party candidate will ever become president of the United States.

By way of contributing to this debate - No third party candidate will ever become president because the two-party system, with its financial support, is too strongly entrenched to ever give up control of the election process. I have recently completed a fine book (published in 1998) "Republic of Parties? Debating the Two-Party System." It is a printed analysis/debate by Theodore J. Lowi and Joseph Romance.

In this book, Lowi generally advocates for third parties and alternative parties, while Romance argues that the two-party system is correct for the United States. Lowi writes that the two-party system is "brain dead" and is only kept alive by electoral laws in the individual states. These laws, Lowi writes, protect the established parties from rivals, in addition to contributing to the success of parties by giving them public subsidies. At the core of the argument, these laws and subsidies are what will prevent a third-party candidate from becoming president of the United States.

Lowi also notes that the founding fathers did not envision political parties as a controlling factor in the election system. In fact, the founding fathers often argued against the establishment of such parties. So much for the conservative, backward-looking argument that we need to return to the foundations laid for us by these early pioneers. We could go on and on, but one example from Lowi's writing may serve to convince us that the "powers that be" of the two major parties will never allow a third party to control the United States government. Lowi states, "It might even inconvenience congressional leaders in their allocation of committee assignments." Yes, it's all about power and control and the two-party system will remain in the driver's seat for many years to come.