There are many debates about this. In general, dualisms and dichotomies tend to be the strongest groups: good and evil, fast and slow, big and small, etc, etc, etc. I believe the US two party system finds that this is the simplest and strongest way to go about this.
But as a consequence, there are a lot of people who only loosely affiliate themselves with a party, because they only agree with that party a little bit more than they agree with another.
DrDevience has mentioned on several occasions that she prefers Sweden's multiparty system to the US's way of doing things, and perhaps in that manner, more people can find a candidate which they support, that actually has a chance at becoming president.
At the moment, I'm not sure where I stand on this issue. I understand your frustrations with voting for a third party candidate. To be honest, I think Sarah Palin has damaged McCain's campaign more than it's helped it. Sure, he's energized the base, but he's lost several moderates and independents because now he's "too conservative." I myself didn't think McCain would be a bad choice for the presidency (though I've always supported Obama), until he chose Palin as his running mate.
I kind of wonder why third party candidates even bother. It's highly unlikely they will win... Maybe if one year, a third party candidate put a lot of money on campaigning, they could have a shot. And why aren't these other candidates included in presidential debates, if they're running for the same office? Isn't that curious?
But as a consequence, there are a lot of people who only loosely affiliate themselves with a party, because they only agree with that party a little bit more than they agree with another.
DrDevience has mentioned on several occasions that she prefers Sweden's multiparty system to the US's way of doing things, and perhaps in that manner, more people can find a candidate which they support, that actually has a chance at becoming president.
At the moment, I'm not sure where I stand on this issue. I understand your frustrations with voting for a third party candidate. To be honest, I think Sarah Palin has damaged McCain's campaign more than it's helped it. Sure, he's energized the base, but he's lost several moderates and independents because now he's "too conservative." I myself didn't think McCain would be a bad choice for the presidency (though I've always supported Obama), until he chose Palin as his running mate.
I kind of wonder why third party candidates even bother. It's highly unlikely they will win... Maybe if one year, a third party candidate put a lot of money on campaigning, they could have a shot. And why aren't these other candidates included in presidential debates, if they're running for the same office? Isn't that curious?