Sure there needs to be a strong party...eventually. One goes to war with the army they have or one surrenders to the enemy. There is no more time to play games with politics as usual. It is time for the politics of hardball that the dems and now GOP openly play against us.
There are plenty of ways to play hard ball w/o replacing the entire Republican Party with a third party.
Again, a third party MUST win MANY elections FIRST. I hope they do. In the meantime, they need baby steps, starting with winning a few elections.