Message Parties

Britain's recent election brought a lot of attention to the third party in the country, the Liberal Democrats. A number of western countries have a prominent third party. A third party is simply a political party which is third in rating after two mainstream parties.

Third parties are usually, but not always, to the left of the mainstream parties. Another well-known third party is Canada's New Democratic Party, the NDP. America also has it's third party, led by consumer activist Ralph Nader, but it is a far more distant third than the ones in Britain and Canada.

Around election time, political commentators often describe third parties as having been "consigned to the political wilderness" or some such terms. It is true that neither the Liberal Democrats or the NDP have ever had a prime minister, and that there is a good chance that they never will. But this posting is to point out how I think third parties are misunderstood and how so many commentators seem to miss the vital role that they play in a democracy.

Remember that a third party is not the same thing as a single-issue party, like the Bloc Quebecois or the British National Party or other right-wing parties in various European countries who seek to drastically limit immigration into those countries.

Mainstream parties try to prevent voters from flocking to the third party, and they usually succeed. But the story goes deeper than that.

A leftward third party raises issues about fairness and the quality of life, which the mainstream parties must address if they want to keep most of the voters away from that party. But in doing so, they themselves must take up part of the agenda of the third party. Mainstream parties usually succeed in marginalizing the third party, but only by addressing the issues which it raises.

The result is that the third party acheives their purpose, not by actually "winning", but by pulling the entire system in their direction. Notice that in countries with a significant leftward third party, such as Britain and Canada, the Conservatives are considerably less conservative than the Republicans in America, which lacks a strong third party.

We could refer to such parties as "message parties" because, while not actually winning the election, they force the other parties to carry out their agenda.