Two-party system forces voters to choose lesser evil

Editor,

This letter is in response to Michelle Obama's letter printed in the Sept. 6 edition of the Daily Lobo. I'll preface this by saying I am a registered Democrat and a sophomore here at UNM who fully intends to vote in the upcoming election. I found many of the things Obama said to be moving and something of an eye opener for me.

For instance, I hadn't realized quite so many young people were coming out to vote in the primaries. Six million may not be the huge population group that other voter factions make up, but in elections like the last two that have been decided by barely a few percentage points, we could make all the difference in deciding the next president.

That being said, I can't help the feeling of disappointment when I think about the coming elections, when I watched the conventions or when I read Obama's letter. That's because she's right - now, more than ever, our votes do matter. What disheartens me even still is how little choice we still have. Obama says we should vote for the change and the world we wish to see. Truthfully, though, what change are we seeing in this election?

I had a great deal of hope when Barack Obama began his campaign. I hoped we might see an election absent of the opposite-party bashing we have seen for years. Instead, all I saw in the Democratic National Convention was the same sort of politics I watched in the 2000 and 2004 elections. Can a political leader not make a platform off of his or her own ideas, or must he or she always win the presidency by simply making the other candidate such an unappealing option that voters are truly left with no choice?

This November, I will vote for Barack Obama for the worst reason: because I don't want John McCain in office. And I don't have another choice. In a two-party system, the only real choice I will have in this election is which politician I find less detestable. I want to vote for change, for a world I could feel proud of. But that's a choice I don't have. I know that even if Nader represented ideas that I believe in, no third party candidate will ever win in my lifetime. All I have are two senators saying the same things the senators and governors before them said and a toss of a coin decision as to which one I want to complain about for the next four years.

Kyle Farris

UNM student