Bernie Sanders speaking in Arizona. (via Flickr)

The American two-party system is being scrutinized and criticized more than ever during this election campaign, and many say the reason is Bernie Sanders — an independent senator now running for president as a Democrat but whose chances at snagging the party’s nomination are increasingly slim.

But as the Democratic-Republican binary continues to dominate U.S. elections, how can truly independent voices break through? That’s the problem that the Progressive Independent Party, or PIP, is trying to solve. The new party, also listed as the “Honorary Bernie Sanders Party” on Facebook, is trying to bypass the delegate math and unfair campaign spending that so often determines the next American president. The founder, Araquel Bloss, writes on the party’s website that it is time to create a “long-term, truly viable third party.”

Image via Facebook

The PIP’s mission statement adds:

The Progressive Independent Party, like Senator Bernie Sanders, knows that a fundamental change in our political system will not happen overnight or alone. That is why we are calling on people to join us in order to mandate this change. Not through simple rhetoric or a single campaign, but through a concerted effort on local, state, and national levels who share our vision and our ideals. This is a people-based movement— first and foremost. We need your voices, your hearts, your minds, and your convictions.

A PIP petition is “asking the Green Party of the United States, the Democratic Socialists of America, the Progressive Democrats of America, and the Sanders campaign and supporters to join forces to create a unified voting block to propel Bernie Sanders into the White House and to create THE LARGEST progressive voting block the United States have ever seen.”

According to Bloss, the party already has a strategy team, structure committee and over 300 volunteers. The creation of a leftist coalition party reflects growing angst amongst many progressive voters in the United States, and a party like PIP might give many voters the choice they have been desperately wanting.

–Posted by Emma Niles