Exclusive: Two's company, three's crowd in US politics — TS Sudhir

 As the dust settles on the American Presidential election, the question that many in this country are asking is why should the choice be restricted to only two candidates.

Yes, on paper, some other candidates do manage to figure but in the high-voltage contest between the Democrats and the Republicans, they get reduced to being also-rans. 

In every election, the battle is for the undecided one-third of the electorate, given that both Democrats and Republicans have the following of one-third each of the American electorate.
But despite one in every three persons not really siding with either of the two parties, they are forced to fall in line simply because there is no other significant choice. Most voters do not want their vote to go waste so a third party candidate does not stand any chance.
One of the candidates who created a stir as a third party candidate was businessman Ross Perot in 1992. He won 18.9 per cent of the vote and that remains the best finish by a non-major party candidate in a Presidential election in the last 100 years.
However, four years later, Perot's Reform Party disappointed by finishing with just 8.4 per cent of the vote. The New York Times in a reference to the Obama vs Romney contest described the voters' dilemma as "like trying to decide between liver and brussels sprouts—a selection they would rather not have to make." There were other candidates this time round as well but in the end, they did not even stand up to be counted.
But the defeat of the conservative extreme right Republicans has already started the murmurs within the party. Herman Cain, a former Presidential candidate has called for a large fraction of Republican party leaders to leave the party and form a third, even more conservative party.
His argument interestingly is that "a third party is needed to save America".
The apprehension however is a clone of the Republicans would only help the Democrats consolidate its position in power for ever. After the Republicans' crushing defeat in 2008 at the hands of Barack Obama, the Tea Party emerged. While Cain's comments are unlikely to result in any kind of split in the Republicans, the party itself may metamorphose itself into an ultra-conservative form.
Both parties also have a vested interest in ensuring it is a straight fight between them and no third party comes to eat into their votes and create problems in a close contest. After all, they have not forgotten Florida in 2000 when Democrat Al Gore lost to George Bush by 537 votes. The loss was attributed partly to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader who took more than that number of votes from Gore in Florida.
From the perspective of a country like India, where multi-party system and coalitions have made the administrative process slow, the American system looks too organised. But perhaps Indian politics truly embodies the spirit of free economy where the consumer (in this case the voter) is spoilt for choice.