Politics: Third Parties
The two-party system hasn't worked in the US for some time. The Republicans and Democrats are more alike than they are different but most voters refuse to vote outside of the two parties even if the third parties better reflect their own ideals. People don't want to throw their votes away and since the third parties don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning, they vote with the same old parties and nothing changes. Sure, there are some real differences between the two parties but they have a few things in common: Neither group really wants to change things and they both want to mantain their control of the government.

Voting third party can force them to change. If the primary parties see people jumping ship and voting for the third parties, they'll have to ask themselves "why?" They'll have to adopt more of those radical views and fight for the changes that those "radicals" are fighting for. Things like universal health care and fair living wages will never be a reality as long as the parties feel they are only answerable to the big money donors who fund them. If they see people voting for the other parties they will see their stranglehold on american politics slipping. If they lose that, they lose the money and they don't want that, so they will have to do anything they can to regain the votes and if that means they have to pass universal health care even though they would lose the contributions from the insurance companies, they'll do it. That's why voting third party is not throwing away your vote. It may not get your person elected but it could scare the parties the "lesser of two evils" into becoming less evil.

Of course, it's easier said than done. Going into the 2000 presidential elections, I planned to vote for either Ralph Nader or David McReynolds. When the day came, I saw the possibility of Bush winning and panicked. Sure, I didn't really like Gore but the chance of Bush winning was to scary to chance. I panicked and voted for Gore. It ended up that Gore won by a landslide in my state. I felt like I threw away my vote. I could have sent a message to the Democrats but instead I caved and let them believe that Gore was OK.

A few months later, the Supreme Court elected Bush president and he has been every bit as bad as I feared. Still, if the Democrats don't run a more progressive candidate in 2004, I may vote third party. I want change and until the Democrats offer it, I'll feel like I'm throwing away my vote when I vote for them. (I say this now, but wait until I hear that the polls are close. They get me every time.)

The Governor election is coming up here in Michigan. The Republican running is even scarier than the prick in the office now and because of that I may end up voting for the Democrat. Granholm, the Democrat, is not an ideal candidate but she's worlds better than her opponent. Still, I want to vote Green. I guess it will all come down to how close they are in the polls. If Granholm sounds like she's in no danger of losing, I'll vote my with my heart and vote for the party that is closest to what I believe (out of the choices available), but if it's close I'll probably do the same thing most of us do. I'll do the same thing I did in 2000. I'll vote for the lesser evil because I fear the worst.