Ralph Nader Quotes

Some people say we need a third party. I wish we had a second one.

America doesn’t need a third party; it needs a second one.

The system [in U.S.] is designed for a two-party system. And those two parties have an interest in keeping third parties out. There's too much of the structure that works in the two-party way. They will keep the third party out.

Much of what we see in America, what most people feel has been progress and good things, have been brought about by the existence of third parties.

While a truly national third party wouldn't necessarily be bad, smaller niche parties are ill-suited to our federalist system.

The Democratic and Republican parties, two apparently distinct political entities feeding at the same corporate trough.

The two-party system has served America very well. We always have political movements one way or another but the evolution of a lasting third party probably will not happen.

We have a complete void of progressive politics in this country right now. The will of the people goes ignored and unrealized. I'm searching for the people that can enter the political system, a strong third party. We need to consolidate.

As much as I cherish your [McCarthy's] right to a platform as an independent candidate I am not going to sit here quietly and listen to you denigrate the two party system. It has served our country well over the last two hundred years.

Pay attention America. Third party might not win it this year, but we could be seeing the shift away from a two party system unfolding.

I once said to my father, when I was a boy, 'Dad we need a third political party.' He said to me, 'I'll settle for a second.'

Our political system needs changing. It needs to move away from personalities and patronage to a system of party programs and consultation with the people.

Tonight we send a message to our party that here in Illinois, there will be a new generation of Republican leaders and we will fight to provide a better tomorrow for future generations. We've made clear the status quo is no longer acceptable.

I think whenever you see what may be the seeds of a third party, you need to be very skeptical because there's not a very good track record for third parties.

I do not support the third party movement anymore. I now advocate the abolishment of all political parties. We've allowed the parties to take over the government.

I think the executives have matured enough so that they recognize that we have a two-party system. In California, we have more than a two-party system.

There's no place for a third party in the United States.

There isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between politicians of either major party.

Minor parties have been attached to some special idea or interest, and they have generally expressed their positions through firm and identifiable programs and principles. Their function has not been to win or govern, but to agitate, educate, generate new ideas, and supply the dynamic element in our political life. When a third party's demands become popular enough, they are appropriated by one or both of the major parties and the third party disappears. Third parties are like bees: once they have stung, they die.

There are but two divisions of party in the United States; and he is a very weak or very presumptuously vain man who can think of organizing a third party that shall rule them both.

Our tired, old politics is tearing at the seams. The Lib Dems have returned to their local roots, just as a more pluralist politics is desperately needed.

People are sick of the political system and the players in the system - BJP, Congress, Akalis. They want a good alternative and those who can deliver.

I think it's been time for a new party. I think it's time for two new parties. If you watch the Democratic convention, that has become a socialist party now.

I'm just saying that we need to find a better way to manifest the broader society's aspirations, politically. The key to it has to be some sort of proportional representation, which allows there to be more parties.

Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today. One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages.