Denver, CO

Being an election season, the Denver scene is quickly warming up to politics. So today’s blog will explore:

How Two-Party Politics Hurt American Choice and Democracy

For anyone paying attention to election primaries, there are some significant divisions among, and within, the two political parties of the U.S.

Case in Point:

Sen. John McCain will be receiving President Bush’s endorsement soon, despite the two being opposed and having ‘feuded bitterly’ in the past. You can read that New York Times article here
For those of you who have really been paying attention, there are even some Republicans who have pledged to vote for the Democrats over their nominee McCain (Ann Coulter) and those who say McCain is ‘not a conservative’ or ‘not conservative enough.’

And then there’s Clinton and Obama who are in a neck and neck race. There is even speculation -though both candidates agree its premature- that they would run on a joint-ticket. You can click here for that article from the Associated Press.

And then there is Representative Ron Paul. You may not have heard of him because the media does not give him credit nor attention. If you truly haven’t heard of Ron Paul and his policy ideas, then its high time you were informed. You can start by visiting his website here. And it is high time everyone become aware of this Republican candidate for President.

Continued, for those of you who haven’t paid studied our U.S. history and history of our government, Ron Paul and his proposals seem like a new wing and view within the Republican party. In reality, Ron Paul is more representative of the true and original Republican Party, representing the true ideas and intentions of the Founders.

But candidates like Ron Paul won’t be given a presence or a platform during the presidential election, unless of course, they run on a 3rd party ticket. This Two-Party practice is not helping American Democracy. There are many Republicans who would have liked to vote for Ron Paul in the presidential elections, or for Mitt Romney, or for Mike Huckabee. There votes now will likely be cast to John McCain, a neoconservative, unless they choose to abandon the Republican party. Therein lies the issue; party members hope for the best candidates - someone like Ron Paul who actually speaks to the issues and presents feasible plans for fiscal policy, bringing our troops home, etc - but these candidates fall off the path that has been carved out by the media and large campaign budgets. If you’re going to judge a presidential candidate by how well they run their campaign, by the way, then take a look at McCain and all the issues he’s had with managing his own campaign money, running into debt, etc. You can find that information here and here

So voters loyal to their party are inevitably limited to their one front-runner that can run on their party’s ticket. This leads to voters not considering the issues and not determining their vote based on who will be the best leader. The Republicans band together, uneasily, and will vote for their candidate, even a bad candidate, just to try to maintain party control. They will vote over the Democrats even if it is a truly great Democrat candidate. The thinking is a bad Republican is better than a good Democrat or a bad Democrat is better than a good Republican.

Its time we changed this Two-Party system and open elections so that voters can actually vote for the candidates they stand behind and really endorse, not be limited to just their party’s frontrunner.
How many Americans will be let down if their Democrat candidate is not the frontrunner and they, by proxy and to maintain party unity, have to side with the other guy or other gal?