Often in America we hear only of the Democrats' or Republicans' comments, debates, or articles. Missing are the voices of those candidates who do not fit either party.
Most voters also do not fit the extreme left or far right. You can be pro-life, pro-gun, pro-free education, and pro-free health care. When we are self-limiting with the two-party system, many citizens do not have true representation.
In order to create a system that is fair and equitable, we need to extend our overall party system into numerous parties that carry a variety of candidates. Pigeonholing people into one party, as it is now, creates extreme rights or lefts, diminishing the voices of the majority of voters.
Other countries have proven that a multidimensional-party system is more effective than a dual-party system. Overall, every candidate should be afforded the opportunity to participate in all facets of our democratic system, especially regarding debates and funding. In order to have a true democracy that is representative of the majority, the two-party system fails us horribly. We need to address this and be more open to multiple parties, especially those who are independent and middle-of-the-road voters.
There is good and bad in each party. Having the option of parties which aren't so far left or right allows for a better pool of choices for casting votes. We need to get out of the spoiler mentality and break away from the typical two-party focus. If we do not break away from the current mode of thinking, we will continue to be placed in the situation of voting for the lesser of two evils. Is this how we as constituents really want to have to view those we are voting for?
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Sheila Lamb
Cloquet
