I thought for today’s post I would dip my toes into a little politics. They say that forming a third party in America is downright impossible, or is it? That is what this post is all about.

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Let’s take a look at the mother country of Great Britain. They have dozens of political parties, and it is seldom that just one of them gains control of the legislature. They must get along in order to form a majority coalition. I think that that is kind of the secret to future US politics.

One of the ways that the two parties in the US get away with this fear of a multi-party system is to use the rhetoric that if you vote for a third party, you are basically throwing your vote away. That might be true for that particular election, but it is really a scare tactic to stay in power.

As far as I am concerned, the two political parties now in power represent about 20% of the electorate in the country. 10% at each end of the political extreme. Somehow or another, we have to break this gridlock before it breaks our country. We simply can’t let the extremes in our current political system control us!

The main problem with getting a third or even a tenth party on the ballot is that our system is controlled by money. The more of it, the more power you have. I suspect I will be long buried before this basic problem is finally worked out, but that doesn’t keep me from “having my say”. Let’s start voting our conscience and beliefs instead of being in constant fear that the “bad” guys will take over the country. That has already happened, and they are us.

I am a fiscal conservative, and a social progressive. I don’t think I am the only one with that combination. Why isn’t there a viable option for me in the voting booth?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the British system should be implemented as is, but maybe we should make our version. Lord knows, the problems Britain is still having with Brexit.

But, with multiple parties on the ballot, it is seldom that one party would ever have the control that they do now here in the U.S.