The official results list eight choices, though all of them were not on the ballot in every State. None the less, there were not simply two. There were three on the piece of paper I was handed.
There are two primary reasons for that:
The Democrats and Republicans have been rigging the election process, er, excuse me, reforming elections laws for over 100 years.
People have been convincing themselves they can pick up a turd by the clean end for over 100 years.
Neither of those things will change as long as people continue to treat politics as a mere team sport.
The Libertarian party started in 1972. I saw my first Libertarian national flyer by 1978. By 1980 I was writing in Libertarian candidates. Eventually the Libertarians overcame the blocks the Democrats and Republicans have put in the way of anyone but themselves, and no longer needed to be written in. People are off their butts.
The problem is getting other people to think about principle. I can't count the number of people who took the World's Smallest Political Quiz, found that they are actually libertarian, then voted Republican anyway because of the lust to not-lose at any cost. That's the exact mentality that brought us Obama, and to this day the adherents blame everyone but themselves.
It takes the amount of money it does because of the way the system is set up. That is entirely arbitrary. Once upon a time television and radio had to give time to the public good because they make their living using the public air-waves. Dish companies use the same public space as well. Cable and fiber optic systems make their living using grants of access and monopoly. There's absolutely no reason, even within the concepts of capitalism, that those entities can't be caused to give political ad time to all candidates as part of the fee to use public property. That alone would vastly reduce the amount of money needed to run a campaign.
Much like everything else, elections are bought and sold because the people allow it to happen that way.
What do you think the chances of that are, with a Democrat controlled Senate and Republicans who want the same level of unconstitutional power for themselves?
I spend a lot of time arguing Second Amendment politics on news web sites, generally through Disqus. One anti-2A response I received went off on his desire to ban violence in movies, on television, and generally wherever it is portrayed, complete with the standard European comparisons. While I can not sincerely agree - until repealed the Amendments are part of the Constitution - I was heartened to see a liberal loon beginning to attack bastions of liberal madness like the MSM and Hollywood. Perhaps when liberals see individual liberals frothing at the mouth about something they do respect and support, they'll grow a brain and think about what they're doing. (Come on, hope springs eternal, doesn't it?)
