Like many people, I am a wee bit fed up with the two party system in this nation, especially when it comes to Presidential elections. Third party candidates are a potential solution, an equivalent of adding new genetic material to a population that has been interbred for far too long if you will. But there is a potential problem with having a third party candidate, Technically just one could and would only leech votes off of a Democrat or a Republican presidential nominee, thus giving an advantage to the other main party candidate by preventing his opponent from collecting votes.

This was claimed to be a HUGE problem by many Democrats back in 2000 when Al Gore won the popular vote and, for all intensive purposes, the election, but did not attain the position of President of the United States. For years, Democrats blamed Ralph Nader, perhaps justly, perhaps not, for stealing votes from Gore that would have made his victory incontestable. Whether or not it was the cause, a cause, or not at all a factor in the overall outcome of the 2000 election, one of the most powerful third party candidates was given an enormous amount of credit for being a deciding factor in the end result of the election, and he wasn't even allowed to be part of the Presidential debates.

A very troubling conundrum has surfaced in light of these Presidential election years over the past decade or so.

On one hand the two party system that we have is growing stagnant. Many of the Presidential candidates seemed, and seem, to have lost touch with the people who elected them, and would elect them, and focus more on divider issues that are of little or no actual consequence to the well being of our nation, but make for wonderful distractions because they are issues that are extremely emotionally charged.

On the other hand, a third party candidate could, and likely would, upset any balance that there might be. The slim majority of people might want a conservative President, but if Ron Paul participated in the Presidential debates then it is very possible that neither him nor Romney would have enough votes to defeat Obama. Similarly, if Jill Stein, the Presidential candidate for the Green Party, was allowed in the debates, the people might want a more liberal President, by a slim majority, and it is very possible that neither Jill nor Obama would attain enough votes to be victorious.

Despite these worries it is obvious that we need a serious third party contender in the Presidential debates. If nothing else it will bring fresh answers that stimulate and invigorate the minds of the voters while making the candidates from the two main parties think outside of the box AND it might even help keep them on target with actual issues instead of using soundbites and divider issues as distractions.

So what, oh what, are we to do?

There is a solution that is difficult and requires the utilization of a very boring, difficult, and otherwise trivial skill. I speak, of MATH.

... specifically basic addition.

One third party candidate would, in theory, throw the election out of balance... Because our elections need to be balanced between the two parties for some reason. But two third party candidates, one from a conservative third party and one from a liberal third party, would keep the balance, in theory, while allowing for fresh blood to be introduced to the Presidential debates.

And who knows, it is even possible that a third party candidate could win...

The strongest opposition to this, by far, are the two main political parties who are in charge of organizing the Presidential debates and choosing which Presidential candidates are strong enough factors to participate in the debates. It is, in virtually every way, a sort of catch 22. The two main parties have an invested interest in not allowing third party candidates into the Presidential debates because it would provide more competition for the candidates for the two main parties, and thus it is nigh impossible that the Democratic Party or the Republican Party would ever allow a single third party candidate into the debates, much less two.

So here is the ultimate question to this problem. How do we, the voters who are ultimately supposed to be represented by our elected officials and are supposed to give voice to this nation and government, effectively get two third party Presidential candidates into the Presidential debates so that we can actually have a choice and not a lack of options?