Time to Stop Voting Against Your Better Judgment

Rotterdan Windmill: Guest Post: Two-Party Paradox by Damon Eris of Poli-Tea Party. Just a few excerpts below -- read the whole thing.

One of the more perplexing paradoxes engendered by the politics of the two-party system is the lack of all proportion between the number of independents among the people of the United States and the number of independents among our elected representatives. A significant plurality of Americans consistently identify themselves as independents, rather than Republicans or Democrats, when queried as to their party affiliation.

Nationwide, almost 40% of Americans consider themselves to be independents, according to recent polls. In government, however, almost 99% of elected officials are beholden to the Democratic and Republican Parties. If millions of voters nationwide do not identify themselves as Republicans or Democrats, or with the Republican and Democratic Parties, with their means, their ends, or both, why are we only represented by officials who do?

Ironically, among the illusions that sustain the two-party system is the illusion that we have a two-party system.

At the local, state, and federal level, polities across the country are effectively dominated by a one-party system of government in which the Republican or Democratic Party has a virtual monopoly on seats for elected office.

Recognizing that the Democratic and Republican Parties are no longer effective vehicles for political representation, but have rather become obstacles to effective political representation, many people say they would consider voting for a "viable" third party or independent candidate for office.

If we only consider Republicans and Democrats to be viable candidates for office, then there will be no viable independent or third party candidates for office.

The true measure of an independent is not whether he or she sometimes votes for Republicans and sometimes votes for Democrats, as partisans of the duopoly parties and their enablers in the media would have us believe, but rather, whether they vote for independent and third party candidates for office.

The people can impose term limits on Democrats and Republicans any time we like: we must simply cease voting for them against our better judgment.