Third parties in the USA
Alternative for America: Republicans, Democrats … And who else?
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Elon Musk wants to start his own party – probably also to annoy Donald Trump. “Third Parties” in the USA are not able to do more. Or?
Everyone deals differently with a separation. One kesser new haircut is enough, the other sweats away his grief in the gym. Or you do it like Elon Musk and found your own party. The overreaction is not surprising, the richest person in the world tends to be extreme. Something that connects him with his ex-buddy.
Donald Trump considers Musk’s political emancipation to be hopeless, she even finds “ridiculous”. His closer advisor until recently was “completely out of the track”, his in-house Twitter cut.
Americans want an alternative
In fact, the majority would like to have a larger selection of the ballot box. According to one, 58 percent of the Americans believed that a third party was necessary before the 2024 presidential election because the established “do so bad work”. Nevertheless, no third party received only one percent of the votes. Even more: For around 160 years, every US President has been either Republican or Democrat.
There are various reasons, but money and bureaucracy are always part of it. Above all, the “The Winner Takes It All” principle makes it almost impossible to achieve a relevant size. The relative majority voting right has split the oldest democracy in the world into two large camps for decades.
Which does not mean that Musk’s “America Party” is currently the only alternative. There are dozens of registered “Third Parties”. However, most of them are only active in one or a few states, and even less have brought it to nationwide importance.
An overview of the three most relevant irrelevant.
Libertarian party
They are considered heavyweights among fly weights in the American party behind. As in many industrialized nations, libertarian ideas are experiencing their blossoms. In contrast to the vast majority of other political currents, libertarians are difficult to press into the classic left-right corset. Rather, it unites the basic idea: maximum personal freedom with a minimal state intervention – with all consequences. Reduction of the bureaucracy, hardly or no taxes, unrestricted, duty -free trade: How many super -rich is Musk as an advocate of Libertarism – but with strong right -wing populist impact.
The Libertarian Party is not the only one, but to date the Libertary Association in the United States. In 2024, both Robert F. Kennedy Junior and Donald Trump promoted their party congress for support, but were rejected – or booed. In the end, the party sent the 39-year-old Chase Oliver into the race. The motto: “Become Unwovernable” – “become irregularly”. The former democrat, who proudly described himself as “armed and gay”, came across around 0.4 percent of the vote nationwide.
Green party
There are also green ones in the USA. Although her candidate Jill Stein was on the ballot in only 37 states in November, more than 800,000 Americans voted for her – which made her the strongest third -party candidate.
The Greens see themselves on “four pillars”:
- “Peace”: reduction in the military budget and end of the missions abroad – they are “immoral” and “not sustainable”
- “Ecology”: End of fossil energies
- “Social Justice”: Higher wages and expansion of the welfare state
- “Democracy”: Public financing and reform of the electoral system
Apart from their common ecological values, the American Greens are significantly more radical than most of their European counterparts. They are strictly anti -capitalist and pacifist, roughly resemble their German sister party in their early days. Since 2016, the US green has also been called “eco-socialists”. They do not compromise – after all, they never have had to do that before.
Constitution Party
Until the turn of the millennium, they called themselves the “party of taxpayers”. The long-serving conservative politician Howard Phillips founded the party out of frustration after President George Bush Senior, contrary to his explicit election promise, levied new taxes at the end of the 1980s.
Today they themselves claim to support “the principles of the declaration of independence, the constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights” and locate themselves in the middle of the political spectrum. However, they are not there. In truth, they are brette conservatives, plead for abortion ban, migration stop, reduction of the welfare state.
In addition, they reject one of the first US parties, the springist party. It campaigned for the rights of the individual states and wanted to reduce the powers of Washington to a minimum.
Will Elon Musk become a Trump fright?
In the end, independent applicants or the candidates of third parties have no chance. But they can be dangerous to the established by “stealing” decisive voices. The closer the result, the greater the influence of the little ones. This is exactly what the Republicans fear. Traditionally, the government party is punished in the interim elections, and with its new foundation, Musk is now making a significant part of the libertarian republicans a new, attractive offer.
A terribly complicated family
Maye Musk
Maye Musk is the mother of Elon Musk and his siblings. She was born in Canada in 1948. In 1952, their parents Johsua and Wyn Haldeman emigrated to South Africa with them. There she started her model career and met the engineer Errol Musk. Elon is the oldest of her three children. After the divorce, she and her children returned to Canada, where Maye continued to work as a model
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However, a hundred times a billionaire is known to quickly lose interest in one thing. How long and how intensely he pursues his political ambitions is in the stars. In the short term, however, he should damage Trump. Maybe he never wanted more than that anyway.
yks
Source: Stern

I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.