Creating a New Party: Learning from Canada

In 1992 billionaire Ross Perot, running as an independent, received almost twenty percent of the presidential vote. Many Americans are clearly discontented with the traditional Republican and Democratic parties. Citizens, if they vote at all, often cast their ballots against rather than for candidates. Can a new party take root in the United States? Perhaps Canada’s New Democratic Party provides a model. The NDP controls provincial governments in provinces containing more than half of Canada’s population.