For many Americans the existence of two and only two parties is a given. That has been the way it has always been in America for the most part. While it is true that more than two parties have and do currently exist, only the Democrats and Republicans are taken seriously in most elections. However it is very simple to see that this only serves to hurt the American Populace.
There is rarely only ever two sides to an issue. There can be multiple ways of attacking nearly any issue. In addition it is almost always the case that applying the same problem solving technique to all problems will result in many unsolved problems. So why are Americans presented with only two options? This is simply not enough to represent all the possible options for what government should do.
A simple example of this dilemma would be a true Libertarian going to the polls. Now there is a Libertarian party this Libertarian could vote for. Unfortunately this Libertarian believes, like most Americans, that a vote for a third party is a waste. Ignoring the flaws in that logic, he would only have two options in terms of political parties. To simplify complicated issues I am going to represent Democrats as loving Big government and liberal social values, and Republicans as loving Small government and conservative social values. The Libertarian likes to see as little government as possible, so is drawn to the Republicans similar love of Small government. However the Libertarian is turned off by the Republicans wishing to endorse social values through government. In this respect he might be more swayed by the Democrats more liberal social values. In this theoretical scenario the Libertarian votes Republican as the lesser of two evils. However the Libertarian's true views on how government should be run never truly get to be represented.
In that example I simplified the Democratic and Republican views for the sake of example. However even when looking at a more realistic picture a reoccurring theme appears. Neither party truly represents most people. Instead they have to pick the one that is closest to their views and live with all the downsides that come with that decision. I offer a simple solution. People should vote for the party that they truly believe in, instead of just Democrat or Republican. Even if it is true that for large elections that Third Party candidates will most likely not win, by not voting for these candidates Americans are denying themselves true freedom at the polls.
