You know, sometimes I just get tired of hearing about all the squabbling and fighting that happens between the two major policical parties. I know I'm not alone.
But one thing that has truly confounded me is the question of why there are only two major political parties. Is it truly possible to fit most of America's political opinions into one of two boxes? In America, of all places, the people are known for their desire to have many choices. American individuality and individual differences in tastes, opinions, and preferences usually mean that there are 20 different choices in just about everything. And yet, when it comes to politics, somehow 99% of americans fit neatly and nicely into one of two descriptions: Republicans or Democrats.
Is it laziness? Are people just too lazy to put forth the effort necessary to inform themselves of what all the parties believe so that they can choose the one which truly represents them? In the 2004 presidential election, about 60% of americans turned out to vote, one of the higher percentages in a while. That's means that 4 of your 10 friends didn't vote at all. Are these people lazy? Are they disenfranchised? Do they just feel that no vote at all is a protest vote? Can that many americans be so indolent that they do not even vote once every 4 years?
Is it ignorance? Due in part to laziness and in part to stupidity, do people not realize there are more than two choices to pick from? There are at least 30 political parties in the country that could be considered at least regional, and at least 6 to 8 which could be considered national parties. Do people not know these exist? Do they not know what these parties believe? Do they not even know what they themselves believe?
Is it money? Is this two party-system due to two parties getting a majority of the funding and therefore capturing a majority of the advertising and publicity? Wouldn't it be a shame to have american politics now decided by two parties just because they had the most money?
Is it attitude? Americans like to be winners. We've grown up where our country is always a winner, where a lot of importance is placed on becoming a winner, or at the very least, liking the winners. This phenomenon is well shown by watching the sales of a professional sports team's apparel and other items when they go from mediocre to great. Suddenly everyone likes the team, because it is number 1, and everyone wants to identify with and be associated with the winner. So does everyone gravitate to one of the two major parties simply because they are the biggest winners and seem to have the only chance to win an election? I hear people say that they didn't vote becase they wanted to vote for a third party candidate, but figured it didn't matter since that candidate would never win, so they either didn't vote, or voted for the major party that was closest to their belief. I've also heard people say, I don't really like this party, but the party I normally vote for fielded a candidate I didn't like so I voted for the other party. Isn't that insane when you think about it? So rather than voting for something closer to your own opinions, you vote for something that is almost a complete opposite? That doesn't make a lot of sense.
For whatever reason, we're now stuck with two major parties. Even though we want to choose between 10 value meals, 8 different models of camcorders, endless models and colors of vehicles, and millions of different pieces of clothing, we still only want to have two choices when it comes to politics. And that's what has gotten us into the mess we're in.
