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There are more than two presidential candidates and our two-party mindset is toxic

It’s everywhere. On television, social media, and the radio have been talking about only one thing: the presidential election.

Whenever I watch a YouTube video, there is almost always a Donald Trump or Joe Biden campaign advertisement before the video begins. We are being bombarded with promises from these two presidential candidates every hour of the day.

With the chaotic state of the world right now, I understand why there is a lot of hype about choosing the right person to manage the country.

Nonetheless, I was willing to attempt to ignore all the Trump and Biden ads until something caught me by surprise. There was something terribly wrong. 

A celebrity I follow on Instagram posted a picture of the Official 2020 Election Ballot onto their story. It was then that I discovered, to my horror, that there are not just two presidential candidates. There are SIX.

I’m unable to explain why I felt this way, but anger and disgust boiled inside of me when I saw that post. It was a perfect example to show how under-represented the other political parties are. 

Let’s forget about that time George Washington said “Hey, no political parties” and then we did exactly that, because that is a topic for another day. Someone please tell me why we only hear about the two biggest parties, Republican and Democrat.

I knew there were a couple other parties like Libertarian and the Green Party. Though, I had no idea that the Unity party or Peace and Freedom parties existed.

America is supposed to be the place where everyone has equal chances, but why are we not giving those lesser known parties an equal chance? I think the reason why it becomes Republican vs. Democrat is because not everyone knows about the other represented parties.

But of all the campaigns I’ve seen, none of them were about a candidate other than Trump or Biden. It doesn’t make sense.

The toxic mindset that it’s Republicans vs. Democrats for every election automatically disregards any other parties’ existence. If there are multiple options, why only settle for two? In any other circumstance, people would take advantage of all the options.

Every election season, I propose that each candidate receives a fixed amount of ad campaign funds. If not that, make sure the people know their options. I sure didn’t until a couple weeks ago. 

The presidential election is one of the most important processes to keep America functioning properly. It’s vital that we choose a qualified person for that huge responsibility.

Democracy is defined as “the practice or principles of social equality.” Practice what you preach, America. If we can’t even give candidates equal opportunities, that shows how much work needs to be done.

At the end of the day, vote for whichever party you want. Before you make a final decision, I encourage you to do some research about what these other parties stand for and what those candidates plan to do for our country. Who is going to be that beacon of hope that we’ve been waiting for, who will transform our country into something amazing?