This October Gallup report says 6 of 10 Americans say a third party is needed.  I’ll bet Americans don’t really want a third party at all.

Consider:  When there’s something wrong with something, we want to put a bandage on it. Sometimes we say the problem is not enough.  Sometimes we want less- like less government spending or waste.  Sometimes we say its broken and want it fixed, like the tax code. Sometimes we want it to be different, like health care.  We have a saying, “The more you change it, the more it stays the same.”  Will a third party really help?

In this case, there’s something wrong with our 2-party political system.  So instead of two parties, we want three. Will that fix the problem? No.

Bandages are great when a strange circumstance damages an otherwise working system, like the bail-out to GM or the economic stimulus package.  But neither of these brought fundamental changes.

When we look at our political problems, it’s easy to look at the surface. On the surface, the people running the show are the problem- the Democrats and the Republicans. But Washington corrupts and disempowers all new members of Congress, too. Washington would corrupt a third party, too.

Some people look deeper and see the problem being too much money in politics, so they want campaign finance laws and anti-corruption legislation. As opposed to starting a third party, these would at least fix the system a bit.

It’s like Uncle Sam has a drug addiction. In this case, the drug is money. His family, the parties, are co-dependents trying to help him, but end up getting sucked into the drama. Adding a third party is like giving him a new family. That’ll give him a fresh start but they’ll get sucked in, too.

The legislative solution is like instructing the police to watch him. This will certainly help, but how long before he finds a way around them?

What’s needed is to cure the addiction. Unlike a drug addiction, politicians really do need money. Even if we pass these laws, there’ll still be PACs or the wealthy willing to spend money on elections. The campaign finance laws aren’t foolproof. Just like the drug war hasn’t stopped drugs from getting to addicts who want it, these laws or a third party won’t stop the addiction.

The poll says Americans want a third party only because they weren’t given a good option. Without a good option, yes, let’s have a third party and the legislation. But let’s create a good option.

What we need is a communication system that allows politicians to communicate with citizens inexpensively on the issues that are important to citizens. What we need is PeopleCount.org.

And as a side-effect, it’ll be easy to have a third party. And it’ll be easy to pass the legislation. Register and vote on issues on PeopleCount.org.