The Republicans and the Democrats have been going at it for nearly two centuries now, and over the years they have become the two major parties, dissolving other major parties, such as the Whig Party. This has been going on for so long that we've even seen Democrats and Republicans flip their values.
Now, we're in 2016, we've come to a point where it just seems clear that the two parties don't equally represent the values of the American people as a whole. Under Trump, the Republicans are moving further to the right in every spectrum, while under Clinton, the Democrats seem to be moderately to the left. That just leaves a lot of people out there left in the open, unrepresented by most of their government officials.
Presuming Trump is far-right and Clinton is moderate-left, here's who's left out:
1. Far-left: social/economics
2. Left: social, right: economics
3. Right: social, left: economics
The far left, socially and economically, tends to relate to those of the Green Party. They fight for social justice and at the same time push a very far left economic agenda that many moderate liberals don't agree with. Bernie Sanders started this far-left movement with his campaign, and now Jill Stein of the Green Party is trying to ride that wave.
When it comes to those who are socially liberal and economically conservative, you have people like Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee. Libertarians believe in social justice and the freedom to do whatever you want as long as it doesn't adversely affect anyone else, but at the same time, they are strong upholders of the Constitution and follow a conservative economic principal.
Now, as for socially right and economically left, well, we don't seem to have a lot of that going on in this election, but it's definitely not represented much in our government.
Anyway, I'm not here to tell people that we have to elect a 3rd party candidate. I believe that it's time to reform the way our government works. So far the Green Party hasn't held any major seat aside from some local ones, and many Libertarians, like Johnson, are former Republicans who have abandoned their former party.
We need to find a way to get the Green Party and Libertarian Party to join the Democrats and the Republicans are on the Senate and House floor, as governors of states, etc. As much as I respect Jill Stein and Gary Johnson for proving to America that we need more options, it just doesn't seem like either of them has a solid chance at winning right now (and time is running out fast), but I believe that they have both opened the door for major reform in our government. If we can find a way to add some Greens and Libertarians on the senate floor, we could easily see a 3rd party candidate as a president in the coming decades.
Today I ask the American people one simple question: Do you think our government as a whole accurately depicts the beliefs and desires of most Americans? Many Americans are frustrated with the way our government works and the laws that are passed and many more just don't feel like their beliefs are represented at all. We need to change that, and that starts by breaking out of the two party trap.
