I understand the appeal of 3rd parties.

[TheUniverse]

I look at all the major issues and see that the upper tier Democrats do not support me.

I support free universal healthcare for all - The upper tier candidates support what they call universal healthcare, but really isn't as it involves the insurance lobby working at a profit.

I support major prison reform. There is no excuse for having 2 million prisoners, when more than half of the prisoners are in there for non violent Drug crimes. Most Democrats say they support reform, but don't really do much.

I support equality for all including the right to marry who you want. All the major candidates support "civil unions"

I support freedom of speech unconditionally. All the major democrats support FCC "decency standards" and about half of them support the flag burning amendment.

I support the freedom to put whatever you want in your body. All the major Democrats support keeping marijuana illegal, even though 1/4 of the country uses it and it isn't even as dangerous as cigarettes or alcohol.

I Support ending the war in Iraq as soon as possible. I also did not support going in. All but one of the major Democratic candidates supported going in (Obama) and none of them said they would be out by 2013.

Now these are all major problems I have with the mainstream candidates. In fact, I would be willing to say I disagree with them more than I agree with them. Also most of America agrees with me on many of the issues. Polls show that most Americans support getting out of Iraq and universal healtcare.

With all these differences why would I vote for them when they only agree with me a 3rd of the time? Because I would rather have a president in office who I agree with 33 percent of the time than three percent of the time. That is nothing more than strategic voting. Voting for a 3rd party would "throw my vote away."

But lets look at the voting records. The majority of the people choose to stay home, and I understand why. If none of the two candidates support you, why vote for one of them? Most people wouldnt want to vote for someone they disagree with to keep someone out of the office we really disagree with. That is far too depressing.

The solution is, we need to encourage people to vote. How do we do that? By getting candidates who are electable on the ballet who share your values. Having two parties has shown that doesn't really happen. Both parties show more interest in the corporations and the military industrial complex than in the citizens. The only way to solve this is by changing the voting system. We need to borrow something from other countries. For example we could use an instant runoff election. That way people could vote for who they want to, and that person would have an actual chance. Or we could use a proportional style democracy or a ranked system. These systems work marvelously in other countries. When you have these systems, the people know they have choices, and the politicians know they will be gone if they mess up. I believe this is the only way to solve our problems. The politicians will work for the people instead of the corporations. As a result, most of those countries have universal healthcare and more labor rights. Until we change the system, the same people will control the system, and they will not work for us.

[Perry Logan]

1. Welcome to the two-party system.

For what it's worth, the Democrats have a massive list of accomplishments, despite their not being as cool as you'd like them to be. For example, if it weren't for the Democrats, you'd be dead from DDT.

[Beerboy]

2. wrong spot

[TheUniverse]

3. What do you mean?