aarntz

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Let me first say that I am not registered with any political party. In fact I am so fed up with partisan politics in the US and the lack of a real choice when I vote that I am becoming increasingly discouraged from voting at all.

My own opinion about the course of the political scene is that the two party system on which we have relied for so long is grinding the country to a halt. The extremist rhetoric from the far margins of both the Republicans and Democrats yields poor quality candidates at election time and doesn't really serve the country's interests when it comes to policy.

What are other peoples thoughts about the two party system and where it is leading us as a nation?

Dr. Weezil

Revolution

CD

My opinion... the more parties (choices) you have, the better 1 person will suit the needs of this country. Sad part is that this may not ever happen in my lifetime...

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sexy1028

I think the standards of this country are steadily going on a downward path. not good.

zeppy

...or at all. That would definately not be in either the Democrat or Republican best interests, so they will never allow it. Can anyone say Green Party?

mistershow

I think that people are caring less annd less until something hits them directly, so basically government is going to gain more and more control with just shhowcasing vertina issues and getting possibly unqualified people into office.

stephanopoulos

Well put. It seems as if trivial issues (in the larger picture) such as gay-marriage and others are drawing way more attention than warranted.

thecowboy

I don't think that issues such as gay marriage are trivial at all, even in the larger picture. It plays into the basic tenets of being american and justifies the reasons we do things such as wage war against islamic extremists who don't have those values.

lovesit

You are right. This is why you should look here:

http://www.lp.org/article_85.shtml

It is very important not to listen to people who say you are throwing away your vote if you vote Independent. These are people who don't reallydo much thinking about whom they vote for. Like Bob Dylan said: they "just want to be on the side that's winning." So they take their "chance": Democrat or Republican. It's going to be one or the other, right?

I'm glad you are past that. Please see the above link to the Libertarian Party of the U. S. Just read about what they stand for. It may not be for you, but you may be surprised.

I actually had a friend tell me she wanted to vote Independent in the last Presidential elections, but "voted her conscience" and went with one of the big parties. She actually believed that was what it meant to be voting her conscience!

LovesIt

cassie

Right now I belong to neither party.I say let the best man/woman win.

lovesit

There are more than two parties. Believing there are only two parties is a major problem with the public - particularly the voting public.

It is highly unlikely that you will be getting the best man/woman for the job if you are choosing from either of the two large parties. Rather, you are most likely choosing from the proverbial "lesser of two evils."

Wouldn't you rather have someone in office whose ideals closely resemble yours, enacting laws that make sense?

Or would you rather choose a rich Republican who wants your money for himself and his friends? He's got enough money, but he wants yours too.

How about a rich Democrat who wants your money to give away to resource draining public welfare bureaucracies? It's easy to be philanthropic when you're giving away someone else's money.

As long as people keep truly believing there are only two parties, they will continue only voting for those two dead-end philosophies, or stop voting altogether. Record-low voter turnouts suggest a lack of faith in the current system. Unfortunately, this only helps the major parties. The real answer to the public's woes is to KEEP voting. Just stop voting for the major parties!

If you believe in the independent parties (Libertarian, Green, Peace & Freedom, etc.), then it is NOT a wasted vote. Rather, it's a wasted vote when you just try to elect a candidate who won't actually come to your house and rob you in person. To me, it's not much comfort that I'm being robbed from Washington, DC. A robbery is a robbery.

Please check out the link from my post above re: the Libertarian Party of the U. S. Not trying to push it on you, but check it out and see what you think. Please post back here with your opinion(s).

LovesIt

shiiboi

As has been pointed out, the "2-party" system is a fiction created by the republicans and democrats. As they grew in power, they changed the election laws to make it increasingly difficult to get other parties on the ballots. Meanwhile, they each used redistricting to insure when a candidate for their party gets in, he/she stays in forever.

At this point neither party actually stands for anything. The cliches mentioned here (rich republican/wealth redistributing democrat) are just rhetoric used in campaigns. If you look at the actual bills and voting records, you'll see that both parties promote the exact same laws and policies. The parties fight over whose version of the bill will be enacted. The only difference is the secret unrelated additions tacked on the bills which benefit the assorted lobbies and special interest groups who pay for the political campaigns. And, increasingly the really big money lobbies are contributing equally to both repubs and dems, so whoever wins - the lobby still wins.

The result is complete deadlock. Supporting '3rd' parties is the only way to break the republi-crat power and bring some life back in the government.

Draggon

I'm not American, but We're flooded with your politics so I'll add a little.
The base system that everything is based on is old and out of date. It's not wrong per se, but needs updating. Changes and alterations to bring it in line with modern living. Like everything else (Including our system), change is done to improve how things work or to remove problems. Without updates, the system fails.
The issue with governments is that the system in place gives them their power, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Look how long it took for the power in South Africa to give it up by ending apartheid, and that was with major pressure from the rest of the world.
The change has to come from the people voting those in power out. The problem with that is that people who are fed up with the current system just decide not to vote, therefore giving power back to those that had it before.

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slimjim86bs

hopefully the parties spliting into numerous parties or i see revolution eventually at no fore seeable time at this point.