Radio War Nerd EP 633 — Why The US Can't Have Third Parties, feat. Seth Ackerman

Guest: Seth AckermanRecorded: September 4, 2026 Why can't Americans form a new third party? Why are they stuck with the same grim "choice" between the increasingly fascistic Republicans and their fake opposition, the Democrats? Seth Ackerman joins Mark and guest co-host Michael Pollack to talk about America's unusually authoritarian election and balloting laws that place it more on par with Belarus and Singapore than western democracies. Ackerman's 2016 article in Jacobin, A Blueprint for a New Party, laid out the structural problem and possible solutions, later picked up by the Democratic Socialists for America to map out its electoral insurgency. *Read Seth's article A Blueprint for a New Party, Jacobin, 2016. (This pdf is more complete than the online version, with the timelines and graphics.)Check out Seth's substack here. Follow his Twitter here. Total: 1:53:49Direct link to this episode's mp3 here * John's new essay collection, To The Crows, is available to subscribers. You can also order a hard copy on Amazon - read it, know it, review it! Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd Sound production by Telescope Audio