Again, unfortunately, it’s a two-party race

If the American political system cannot produce a viable third party presidential candidate this year, then when could it?

That question comes after No Labels’ recent announcement that it will not field a ticket this election.

The group last year began seeking ballot access in states across the country in case the two parties produced what most voters don’t want, which is a rematch between President Biden and former President Trump. It said it would nominate a “Unity” ticket featuring a Republican and Democrat running together. Meanwhile, it also said it would only nominate a candidate if there were a path to victory.

No Labels was succeeding in its efforts to secure ballot access, including in Arkansas. Unfortunately, it couldn’t find two viable candidates willing to run.

That means Arkansas’ ballot will feature the same Republican and Democratic presidential candidates as it did in 2020 – unless something outside the political process happens.

Also on the ballot will be some of the same third parties that were there in 2020. Those include the anti-government Libertarians, the largest and most organized third party. Others are the pro-environment Green Party; the Prohibition Party, which seeks to limit alcohol, tobacco and drug consumption among its other policy positions; and the American Solidarity Party, which is pro-life on abortion but then takes typically liberal positions elsewhere.

In the 2020 elections, those parties in Arkansas won 1.08%, 0.24%, 0.23%, and 0.14% of the vote respectively. Other political groups have until Aug. 5 to qualify and Aug. 22 to submit their candidates.

That’s not to demean what these groups are trying to do. I’ve voted in nine presidential elections, and in five I voted for a third-party candidate – often but not always as a protest vote. I want diverse ideas to be represented in elections, and I respect these third parties for trying, but these particular ones do not seem to be exciting masses of people so far. I thought that No Labels might have done so.

This is the second time in recent years that a promising, well-funded centrist movement has failed to find a candidate. In 2012, Americans Elect sought and achieved ballot access while opening the nominating process to whichever candidates wanted to run. Nobody managed to gain traction, so Americans Elect faded away.

In contrast, in my lifetime there has been one competitive third party candidate. That would be billionaire businessman Ross Perot, who won 19% of the vote nationwide in 1992 and 8.4% in 1996. His first campaign, he spent millions of dollars of his own money to educate Americans about the national debt. Not coincidentally, the years afterwards were the last time the U.S. government budgeted responsibly. Credit goes to President Clinton and the Republican-led Congress, but Perot and his 19% brought the issue to the forefront. In 1996, Perot focused more on opposing free trade with Mexico. He was sort of Trump before Trump was Trump, but without the ethical issues.

Four elections – Perot’s two campaigns, Americans Elect and No Labels – is a small sample set, but it may offer some clue as to what a non-major party candidacy should look like these days. If a movement wants to be competitive, it should start with a candidate, or at least have one quickly, rather than simply seek ballot access with promises of a candidate to come. Voters need a person who expresses and personifies their ideals and values, preferably in plain English, as Perot did. Having a billion dollars is certainly a perk.

Finally, a third party candidate must be willing to lose, as the Libertarians, Greens and others are, in pursuit of a larger cause.

I could not have peered deep into Perot’s soul back when he was alive. I’m sure he, like all of us, was a mixture of complicated and conflicting ambitions – some noble, some not. If his mission was to hear “Hail to the Chief” played when he walked into a room, he didn’t succeed. But he did campaign on balancing the budget, and the budget was balanced.

Unfortunately, the budget didn’t stay so, so you could say he failed.

But then, politics often involves fighting the same battle over and over. Sometime it’s a losing one, as third parties well know – and will again know this year.

Maybe something different will happen in 2028. It’s just four years away.