As most people know, I am a moderate when it comes to politics. I don't like to be labeled as either a liberal or a conservative. I also don't want to be neither a Democrat or a Republican. I think that America is too diverse to be represented by just 2 parties. That's why what Camille said yesterday during lunch made a lot of sense to me. He observed that when the political views of the people in this country are represented by only 2 parties it makes it easy for politicians from either party to take a stance on an issue and blindly advocate their solution to be absolutely right while sneering at the views of their opponents. It becomes easy for either party to spin any political discourse as being good vs. evil or conservative vs. liberal. However, the issues that politicians are tackling with are by nature ambiguous and framing the issues under the context of drawing to either side of a set of binary views become unproductive and even misguided. I think that any political discourse has to be based on a platform that brings people to the center with common actions. So is having more political parties a solution to forming a more centrist government? Having more political parties can provoke better discussions and offer more choices. On the other hand, having too many parties can slow the political process and suppress efficiency. So what is a good model? Also, should government always strive for moderate political agenda or policies?

2/4/2006 5:40:42 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Politics