by Melissa Close-Swickard

Created on: June 02, 2011   Last Updated: June 03, 2011

“I haven't seen anybody with anything better. Out of all of them, he's the one I trust the most. I'm not sure about everything he's done, but he hasn't done anything so bad that he's scared me off. I think he's been fighting an uphill battle and I'd like to see him get a fair chance, but don't know if that's possible in this messed up country.”

The above comment was made to me recently when I asked a friend if she was going to vote for Barack Obama in 2012.  However, she was applying her verbiage to thoughts of our two main political parties.

It doesn’t matter whether I agree or disagree with her.  But, what does matter is that her comments are a typical response of how most Americans think when talking about who they will vote for in 2012.

Gone are the days of “I am voting for Joe or Josie Dokes because I love what he or she has done while in politics.”  In fact, even the old adage of “I am going to vote for Joe or Josie Dokes because he or she is the least of the two evils.”

“Two” is the keyword in that last sentence.  The majority of Americans look at Democrats and Republicans, because we were conditioned to do so when in school.  We were told that this country is a two-party system, and were never taught to think outside the box into seriously considering a third party in the White House.

However, as we watch the RNC and DNC come together almost into one ideology, now more than ever is the need to look into a third party.  We have climbing national debt, alarming unemployment rates, an extension of the Patriot Act, (which is an invasion to your privacy) and an escalating war in the Middle East, which does not have an end in sight.

Do you know of anyone who is championing the cause of the Patriot Act?  Is anyone singing the praises of a wonderful economy in this country? Are you better off because of our intervention in the Middle East?  Do you see an end to the recession of the last several years?

And the thing is, these issues are just lightly touching the surface of what ails these United States.  What about Medicare and Social Security?  You cannot open a newspaper or skim your internet news without seeing something about how your children and grandchildren will probably not see Social Security benefits, which is really a way of saying that the current two party system has misappropriated your hard earned money for their own interests.

If you take some time to look into the other political parties that are out there, you may find that some of them are full of more than rhetoric.  Oh, what a concept!

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