Beyond two-party America

I felt both proud and ashamed as I listened to Butler University students share their feelings about the upcoming election yesterday evening. In a fantastic panel discussion, religion majors (joined by a political science professor for this panel, moderated by a religion professor) expressed the enthusiasm which they brought to this first time they will have the right to vote, and how the options available to them have succeeded in robbing them of that enthusiasm.

I felt incredibly proud as they articulated their viewpoints eloquently and insightfully. And I felt ashamed that my own and other generations that have gone before them have bequeathed to them an electoral system, parties, and candidates that these first-time voters are appropriately disappointed with and frustrated by.

Data was shared at the event indicating that an enormous number of Americans do not identify in a simple and straightforward with a particular religion or political party. They may consistently vote one way. But it is because they feel that they only have two options. And it is that sense of having to choose the lesser of two evils that makes the election process disappointing. One of the evils may be much, much less evil than the other. But that is not the same thing as having a candidate that you can be entirely enthusiastic about.