The Brexit Party Shows Why America’s Two-Party System is Illiberal

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage is back in the United Kingdom to ensure that Brexit becomes a reality.

Three years ago, the British voted to leave the European Union and return much of their lost sovereignty and self-determination back to their country.

Since then, the major parties – ranging from the Labour Party, Conservative Party, and UKIP – have wrestled with leadership changes as they attempt to either push Brexit forward according to schedule or try to slyly forgo Brexit entirely.

Now, with British Prime Minister Theresa May widely unpopular and British voters even more upset with the slow process, it only makes sense that Farage would return to ensure that the effort he and his movement spent over 27  years can finally come to fruition.

In the UK, competing parties that participate and get elected based on a mix of plurality and rank choice voting known in the UK as first past the post voting.

Without going into too much detail as to how elections in the UK work, what is important is the fact their democratic institutions allows for competing third-parties that allow for voters to have a real impact in the way coalition governments are formed and to ensure their voices are understood by the political class.

In the United States, rigged institutions such as the Commission on Presidential Debates prevent third-party candidates from getting on the debate stage because Democrats and Republicans want to ensure the two-party system stays amongst them.

The relevant saying that “picking between two parties is like only picking between only two flavors of ice cream,” is still true to this day. From ballot access requirements to other legalities that prevent third parties from making a real impact, American voters are deprived of an authentic voice for their needs each election.

When the American people have less political freedom than the nation we broke away from in 1776, we have to start asking whether the old two parties truly care about our liberty as voters, or if we are meant to stay in this permanent state of choosing which party can take away more of our freedoms in the next election.