To your left is corruption and to your right is insanity. Which do you choose?

Although it sounds like a bad tagline to an even worse movie, it is the unfortunate reality of the 2016 election in the United States. For different reasons, both candidates are pretty horrible people. Unfortunately, they are our only viable candidates. Yes, the third party candidates have been getting more and more recognition, and maybe by 2020 we could have a third party presidency. Unfortunately, it’s probably not going to happen this year. Note that I am not trying to discourage anyone from not voting for a third party candidate: by all means do so.

So how did we get to two such immoral candidates? Probably one of the bigger reasons is that we live with a two-party system that has utterly strangled any hope of forward movement. As each party hopes to appeal to more individuals, they become more and more outlandish, until we end up with the likes of Trump and Clinton, both attempting to appeal to as many in their party as possible. Unfortunately, it is a case of the loud minority versus the quiet majority: we hear more about right-wing racists and left-wing hypocrisy than about anyone who lives in the middle of these two extremes. The parties stretch farther and farther out until they become the worst parody of themselves possible.

Simply put, the weight of trying to appease everyone is an impossible load for our two-party, winner-takes-all system. Now more than ever, we need to begin moving towards a parliamentary multi-party system, where votes can actually be cast for who people want, and not just the least awful. By opening up all the branches to multiple parties, voters in the United States might actually feel enfranchised, considering that almost 40% of voters consider themselves independent.

Let us consider how our current government currently works: two diametrically opposed parties are somehow supposed to contain the entire political spectrum. Whenever the executive and legislative branches are controlled by opposing parties, nothing gets done, almost as a matter of principle. The entire political culture is reductive and obstinate, serving only those who are already powerful.

If we divide the system into multiple parties – say ten or so – then our citizens can be more accurately represented. Under the current system, certain centrists, neo-liberals and socialists all fall under the same wing, despite possessing wildly differing ideas. Multiple parties staggered along the political spectrum would encourage more citizens to vote, and maybe even encourage individuals to become more involved in politics and political positions. A grassroots movement would be much more possible in such a system, and much more effective. In short, the United States would experience a much greater level of democracy.

How is such a system implemented? Put very simply, we must do away with the winner-takes-all system and the Electoral College, especially considering how gerrymandered current districts are. Currently, the Electoral College ensures that the winner takes all, leaving a large minority completely disenfranchised. Throw in gerrymandered districts that ensure that the vote will always land a certain way, and you have many voters left without a voice. Without a College, there is no reason to have districts, meaning that the vote cannot be distorted as it is now. It is past time for the American people to have actual control of their representatives. Instead of a majority rule, the Senate and the House of Representatives would be proportional, reflecting the wishes of the American people. What is good about this is that parties could form coalitions to pass certain bills, meaning that where two otherwise dissimilar individuals would agree on a policy, so might their parties, leading to progress instead of deadlocks where the parties refuse to agree due to some insipid principle of theirs.

Next would be to open the debates to the largest ten or so parties (as it will always be impossible to include absolutely every party). We let the people know of the options available to them. Although it may fall that certain parties might dominate, this domination would no longer be the repressive strangle-hold it is today.

As this election has shown us, now is the time to take a hard look at our system and see what needs fixing, and when a convict and a predator can brazenly fight for control of our country, we definitely need fixing. We must open politics to everyone, wrenching it from the elite. We must know that everyone has a say; only then can we truly call ourselves a democratic nation.