The two major parties have lost touch with most of the voters I don't think they even notice the votes for an Independent unless those votes cause the other major party to win for a specific candidate.Then they just blame the Independent & nothing gets done.
The only real solution is the ones used by the patriots in the American Revolution.So unless enough people are willing to take up arms against the current government things will get worse.To many it hasn't gotten bad enough to pay the price of change which might be their lives or individual freedom.There are militia groups but they are not organizrd into one group capable of revolution because of each groups seperate political beliefs.Many are racisist & some lean toward Nazism.So when things get bad enough maybe they will set their differences aside & start a revolution.
So vote for an Independent if you like I will vote for one of the major parties till it gets bad enough.When I see the revolution start I will join it.

I'm going to go out on a limb and voice my opinion on national politics.  Please keep in mind that I've never been a political leader, nor have I ever run for parliament.  What's more, I'm Canadian. 

There's a consensus out there that there is no point in voting for a party because it lacks leadership.  The fallacy in this is that you can't truly identify a lack of leadership if that party's candidate hasn't been given the appointment of leadership.

There is a gain in voting for a political party because of its values.  The face that they put on the pedestal as their leader isn't always their most intelligent, or the aptitudinally (or attitudinally) fittest, leader.  Usually, it's the prettiest face.  Let's be honest here....the most butt ugliest presidential candidate wouldn't get voted in in this day in age even if he had the most amazing philosophies and ideas of change.  It's just not how society works today.

I say, take a listen to what the party has to say, and how they plan to work for the nation.  It takes more than one person's voice/opinions to represent a party, no less a nation -- it takes a lot of background participation and support.  You may agree that some of the best "leaders" in history have often been nothing more than great puppets.

Ross Perot was not in a political when he ran for President in 1992 and1996. At least notthat I can remember. 

In the 1992 election, he received 18.9% of the popular vote (but no electoral votes), making him the most successful Independent presidential candidate in terms of the popular vote since Theodore Roosevelt in the 1912 election.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot