My dad once told me that any boy can grow up to be president. Actually an unspoken truth to this might be that, in America, any boy or girl can grow up to run for president. If you have a desire to change politics, then there is a place in the political world for you to help make a change. Whether it is on a small scale in the local level or the large scale, as in a run for president, you can make a difference. If you desire for large-scale change then a third party might be the place for you. Since the mid 1850's, the Democrats and Republicans have had control of the government. The state and local levels is the only place where opposition is felt. However, in the early days of our country, third and fourth party candidates played important roles in politics. A few of these parties from our history are: Democrat-Republicans, Jefferson Republicans, Whigs and Federalists. Many other lesser known or hardly known at all were the parties of the: Socialists, Unionists, Farmer-Laborists, Progressives, Communists, States' Rights, American Independents, Libertarians, New Alliance, Populists, Consumers, National Economic Recovery, Right to Life, Workers league, Socialist Workers, Peace and Freedom, Prohibitionists, Workers World, American, Grassroots, Independent and Third World Assembly. This immense list goes to show that not all American history has been two party. Today the list of parties is as extensive with parties like: Reform, Green, Constitution, Grassroots, Socialist, Socialist Workers, Workers World, Libertarians, Natural Law, Prohibitionist, American Republican Party and many more. What we know today as Democrats and Republicans derived from some of the early parties. The emergence of the parties has come mainly as a reaction to history where most of the rulers have been dictators or kings. The people do not favor dictatorship and therefore created political parties to better represent the feelings of the voters (Madron, 1974)....
