It's not about influence. The two parties control who gets on the ballot. That's the corrupt system we have. Unless there's a massive movement, people march to DC and demand change, it's not going to happen. We live in an era when people are conditioned to short attention spans so that kind of sustained pressure to force change is unlikely. The last time it happened was Occupy Wall St. After that, the government passed certain laws to engage in domestic propaganda to control information and actions.