They’d allow a third party candidate now if they did as well. To qualify, a third party candidate need to poll at 15% or above and be on enough state ballots to have at least a possibility of winning. Nobody has even come close to that since Perot.

It takes 15% of the vote in the polling to be eligible to debate as a third party candidate, but it's hard to get to 15% if you're not allowed to debate. A catch-22. These rules are decided by a commission that includes democrats and republicans, but not independents.

Gary Johnson has campaigned vigorously to try to get this rule changed through the courts, but apparently without much success.

My dad voted for Perot, as did I in my school's mock election at the time. He regretted it in the end, attributing his own vote to doing nothing more than causing Bush to lose, but there's never shame in voting for who you think is the best candidate for the job.

In a nation of 300+ million people, having two realistic choices isn't remotely enough to cover everyone's viewpoint. Two parties is much easier for people with money to bribe. It's a good setup for average folks to lose in class warfare (and those of us who work, have indeed lost). Even the convenience store has more than just Pepsi and Coke.