The two-party political monopoly in American politics

Yesterday, I voted Libertarian for president. I could not bring myself to vote for either the republican or democratic candidates since neither of them come close to my personal views. After the votes were tallied, 98.4% of the vote went to either McCain or Obama. I think that it would do a lot of good for our country if a strong third party could emerge. But less that 2% of the total popular vote went to presidential candidates from third parties.

Radley Balko has written an excellent opinion piece, which is posted both on foxnews.com and on his own website, about the monopoly that the Democrats and Republicans have on our voting system.

Here are some excerpts:

"Bob Barr has no chance of winning the election. But regardless of what you may think of his politics, or that of third-party candidates like Ralph Nader or Chuck Baldwin, this system is rigged. The two major parties have effectively cemented their grip on power by creating laws that make it virtually impossible for upstarts to compete with them. They have effectively done with campaign laws what federal business regulations tend to do in the private sector — protect the behemoth, entrenched dinosaurs that dominate the industry by making it too expensive and difficult for anyone to challenge them.

Consider these two figures: Congress' approval rating right now is a dismal 19 percent. Clearly, we aren't happy with the people who are governing us. Yet 90-95 percent of the incumbents running for re-election to Congress will be victorious on election night. Many will run unopposed. Between gerrymandering their districts to ensure a friendly electorate, campaign finance legislation, debate rules that effectively bar third-party participants, onerous ballot access rules, and the privileges of office, the Democrats and Republicans have ensured that the vast majority of the country will chose only between one of two candidates this year — candidates who, when it comes right down to it, really aren't all that different.

The system we have now selects for the sorts of people who want to make a career of politics. If, in order to successfully run for high office, you have to spend years culling favors and working your way up through one of the two major parties, the winners in this game are going to be the party loyalists and power-hungry climbers who couldn't hack it in the private sector — frankly, the last personality type we want governing."