Should third parties play a more prominent role? why or why not?
Washington warned against them. Madison argued that factions would increase participation and balance each other out. What is the reality today? Using evidence from your research, argue the roles of parties in today's American government. Do parties help improve policy and help people? Have you found examples of how either party has advanced a policy that has helped solve a real problem in America?
Should third parties play a more prominent role? why or why not?
68 Comments
Jackson
3/4/2014 09:13:48 pm
Yes I believe that third parties should play a more prominent role in elections and other politics. This way people have more options without fear of their candidate not getting elected and people can get a more marrow choice in what they want. Many other countries such as Switzerland and Germany have more party options and a better chance of those parties getting elected and the people in those countries are generally happy with their governments.
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Anthony phillips
3/4/2014 09:48:54 pm
I think in my own opinion we should have more then two parties because it could help people have more choices of what party they want to be in instead of just having two choices. An example is in other countries they have more then two parties which give people in that country more option to chose from so that way whenever election comes up candidates can see the parties and each one different perspective of what they want from he or she that is running as the candidate
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Jared Beiersdorfer
3/4/2014 09:14:00 pm
In reality today, parties completely control the government. Although they may "balance each other out" it is very difficult to find a member in the national government that is not affiliated with either the Democrats of Republicans.
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Marc Engelsch
3/4/2014 09:15:20 pm
Obviously parties are necessary to have a function government. A one party system would work to,but that would be considered a dictatorship which the people don't want.So yes, different parties are necessary.
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Ryan Capal
3/4/2014 09:15:36 pm
I think that factions do in fact exist in American government today. This is because the democrats and republicans will always disagree on different topics. I think a third party would be a good idea to get things done because the majority of the third party could help balance out the factions in the American government.
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Cecelia
3/4/2014 09:15:49 pm
The reality are that parties are a big influence in today's society.Parties determine what type of laws and views we have in different states in the United States.I believe that parties do help improve policy and help people, its just that each party might help with a different thing.An example is how the Republicans are helping with the immigration issue. The Republicans are thinking of ways to limit US immigration. I believe that the democrats and Republicans should have a more prominent role than third parties.
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Jasmine Campbell
3/4/2014 09:16:10 pm
In today's American government, parties get policies heard and try to get them implemented. Parties do help improve policy and help people. I have not found examples of how either party has advanced a policy that has helped solve a real problem in America. Third parties should play a more prominent role because they balance out the primary parties in government.
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Ja'Carrie Brown
2/24/2015 01:44:45 am
I completely agree with the following statement in terms of stating that the parties do help improve policy and help people. To support with evidence the Democratic Party kept the country together during the Great Depression, WWII, and for most of the Cold War. During those periods, the Democrats enacted most of the social and economic institutions we have today. The Democratic Party abolished legal discrimination and forcefully integrated the South and its institutions. The Democrats are responsible for the Federal Reserve, the FBI, Social Security, Medicare, workers compensation, unemployment compensation, and the right of workers to unionize, as well as the right to work. Should third parties play a more prominent role? They can only be as protuberant as they make themselves out to be.
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Autumn
3/4/2014 09:16:25 pm
the parties try to help improve on different issues but most of the time they don't really help like for instance Obama/ democrats wanted to improve on health care and created the Obama care act which is not every help for or working out at the moment for the greater good. There are just a bunch of problems with it still. I think the third party should get involved a little bit more and not be hidden as much and should take a more prominent role because some people are swaying in opinion and are not all republic or democrat. There is a big percentage that are that 3rd party and they are left out.
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Lewis Wolke
3/4/2014 09:16:25 pm
I think that the shameful reality of today is that parties have ruined political participation and policy improvment. Considering political participation, I think that people do not have to know as much about politics since they can just believe in what their party believes in or they can just say that they side with the democrats or the republicans on a specific issue. This lessens the need for people to actually understand what really goes on and what really needs to happen in the government and in politics. I think that parties have also ruined policy improvement since they are always arguing about policies and they can never get anything done that actually means something big to America. An example of this would be in the government shut down, if parties didn't have to argue so much over policies than the government wouldn't have had to shut down which wouldn't have caused government workers to not get paid and other stuff like that. Some people may argue that if their wasn't any parties in government than people could never agree since they would be arguing even more than parties do, but in this case the people could come to resolutions and conclusions since they don't have a party that they have to side with and they don't have to hold strong in their platform.
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Jelani Vaughn
3/4/2014 09:16:45 pm
Third parties should play a more prominent role in our government because there are often more than two viewpoints on an issue so therefore, when third parties have a bigger say in our countries policy, voters are then allowed to pinpoint themselves on their view of an issue as opposed to if there were only two parties.
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Jordan Randolph
3/4/2014 09:20:46 pm
American participation in government has declined as voters have seen more corruption in the government, regardless of the factions involved.
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Lisa Grub
3/4/2014 09:21:33 pm
Third parties should participate more and play a bigger role. Some third parties have good ideas but because the two main parties own most f the voters, smaller parties don't have a chance. Good changes could be made but some Americans don't care about it and don't even know what the other parties stand for and fight for.
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Joshua K.
3/4/2014 09:23:10 pm
The reality today is that factions stop each other from getting work done. Factions create conflicts and stop legislation from passing. In some cases, parties really do improve policy and help people but honestly most of the time they don't. I haven't exactly found legislation singlehandedly passing important legislation. Third parties shouldn't play more roles, one party would work just as well
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Joshua K.
3/4/2014 09:29:45 pm
What I meant to say in my 4th sentence was that legislation singlehandedly passed by one party isn't or hasn't been possible. Or at least important legislation
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Amariyah Yisrael
3/4/2014 09:23:18 pm
Parties help to produce action and connect the people to the government. They also help prevent tyranny by providing two sides to the issues. Without parties the people would not be able to directly connect with the government. Competitive parties have people who want to be elected therefore trying to appeal to the people which gets what people think is important heard. The citizens will then choose who best represents what they stand for and who will act best in their own interest. Then the elected official will try to carry out that legislation in order to stay in office which creates a cycle of supply and demand.
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3/4/2014 09:24:00 pm
The amount of political parties today is much larger than it has ever been. These parties not only help people keep up to date on governmental issues, but they also strive to activate new policies to better the lives of the people. However, I believe that too many parties result in chaos and corruption. The government can only please so many people. What one party wants, another party won't want. This is already shown with the Democratic and Republican parties. These two groups already cause enough mutiny as is. We do not need more parties to criticize each other and halt change.
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Matt McNeill
3/4/2014 09:24:28 pm
Political parties and other factions often do more harm than good in the government today. opposing viewpoints typically lead to gridlock- not more voter turnout. This is shown at every major decision made by legislature, where the house Republicans and Senate Democrats battle for the opposite of what the other side wants, regardless of what the issue is.
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brieona
3/4/2014 09:25:36 pm
They aren’t as prominent but they are still there. An example would be the green party, They are on the left, a division of the democratic party, but they have some ideas that are different from the democratic ideas. Parties help people see a different side of events that are different from their original thoughts. It helps to make more ideas on policies and what they should look like. The green party cares about rights for all citizens. They campaign for issues that they care about.
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Irene Onianwa
3/4/2014 09:26:18 pm
Factions have increased participation and often times balance each other out because of the numerous amounts of factions. The roles of parties in today’s American government are essential to the establishment of political policy issues that the public feel are important. Parties often help improve policy and help people by presenting multiple views for citizens to side with and promoting issues that people feel impact them the most. I have found examples of how either party advanced a policy that has helped solve a real problem in America because the Democratic party were for environment awareness and conservation resulting in the fruiting of the Green Party. Third parties shouldn’t play a more prominent role because we have two distinct parties that portray the issues that impact us the most and represent our perspectives.
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Dekwan Holcomb
3/4/2014 09:26:46 pm
faction do exist today but in reality parties usually ending in a stalemate not getting anything done it. Parties all take position for what best for you and your side. third parties should get involved more it will get more opinions and more options for people.
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Aunay Miller
3/4/2014 09:27:12 pm
Factions do increase participation and balance each other out because the way our government is set up, no one party can have complete control. But in reality when all these factions are fighting for their favored policies it could be like a game of tug-a-war. These parties have a very dominant role in the government and control policy. However, they don’t really help the people because they’re just looking out for their own interests and not those of the people. Therefore, third parties should have a more prominent role because they represent different views that Democrats and Republicans don’t emphasize. I think that these different perspectives, the people would be able to make wiser decisions and add variety to our government.
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Austin Jones
3/4/2014 09:27:27 pm
The reality of it today is that their are two major parties in the U.S., however, they don't balance each other out. The political parties give an effort to help the American people. However, when it comes to making policies, they can't agree. There isn't a major problem that I remember that was carried out in the U.S. government. Third parties should have a more prominent role in government. Once they do, they can introduce policies that could be very helpful to what the government is trying to do.
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Hayley Perkins
3/4/2014 09:28:16 pm
In reality factions split up parties and cause some to not participate in government. The two main parties dominate the playing field and lessen exposure of smaller parties and ideologies. Parties do not help America, in fact it can sometimes do more damage than help. The goal of the government should be to help the people as a whole rather than point fingers at what is right and wrong. Current issues with the house and president have shown that parties can cause decisions to not be made and can create government shutdown as seen in the fall. However, human nature and individual beliefs create a need for categories so that all ideas are represented in the government.
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morgan
3/4/2014 09:30:13 pm
The reality of factions is that they contradict each other and create gridlock.The roles of parties in today's American government is to both help people and improve policy, although it is hard to achieve. Something that the government has passed that actually benefits the American People is the Civil Rights Act.
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Chantelle Thompson
3/4/2014 09:52:40 pm
I think that third parties should be a bigger deal in elections and things of that nature. Having this will provide people with a more variety of people whose they agree with a lot of their ways.
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Misael Barcelona
3/5/2014 12:13:38 am
Parties do help our problems in America because they allow for different perspectives on things and allows for people to all be part as one answer or solution to the problem. 3rd parties should be able to be take part of these polices so other perspectives on things that we don’t know about can be heard.
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cartherina
3/5/2014 12:17:07 am
Third parties should be more prominent because it will give voters more options and it will help to get the government functioning and out of gridlock.
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ATH
3/5/2014 12:18:18 am
I think it does because it could help divide your views one certain topics. I think with the parties, it will define you as what you believe in. So it shows what you really are as a person with your beliefs.
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Cornelius Mitchll
3/5/2014 12:18:26 am
I think that factions do exist in american government today. This is because the democrats and republicans will always disagree on topics.An alternate party would be acceptable because it eliminates lef right paradigm
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Paris Bell
3/5/2014 12:21:47 am
2. Today, the main goal of political parties today is to control the government. Political parties are often fighting for control of the government. Each party has a certain policy agenda, and they try to get laws passed. Parties help improve policies, but it depends on which political party is in power. For example, if the Republican Party controls the government, they will be more likely to pass laws regarding policies on the republican policy agenda. Having political parties often causes gridlock, which hinders progress from getting done. Third parties should play a more prominent role. With freedom of speech guaranteed to us by the Constitution, we should be able to speech freely about the government. Third parties also have a voice. It would also make the government more points of view.
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Julian Martinez
3/5/2014 12:22:29 am
Yes I think that third parties should play a more prominent role in elections and other politics.But there are two major parties in the U.S that get almost all the attention but it shouldn't be like this.
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Lauren Harvey
3/5/2014 12:22:49 am
Factions do increase participation and balance each other out because the way our government is set up, no one party can have complete control.But,the reality of factions is that they contradict each other and create gridlock. Parties do not necessarily help the people as much as they like to think. But, these parties have a very dominant role in the government and control policy. Also third parties shouldn’t play a more prominent role because we have two distinct parties that portray the issues that impact us the most and represent our perspectives.
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Jazmine Edwards
3/5/2014 12:22:58 am
The reality today is that parties are not as productive as they sometimes put out to be. They can rule most of the government at times, and make it harder to pass legislation. Parties can help to improve policy if there is agreement among the leaders. The democrats have made improvements on helping with environmental issues. They have represented people and created jobs to better the environment. Third parties should be more prominent because they will give a bigger variety of choices. This is beneficial to someone that accepts ideas of multiple parties.
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Duygu Coskun
3/5/2014 12:25:13 am
According to my observations more than two-thirds of Americans would consider voting for a third-party presidential candidate, while nearly half of all voters think a third-party is needed as the polls show. The two parties keep pushing toward the extreme and they are not very accepting towards each other That is why, I think, not many laws are being passed because everyone is closed off to differing opinions.
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3/5/2014 12:31:21 am
On some issues parties get these done but on issues like education it seems like all they do is talk about what they want to do when they get elected but when they do nothing changes. Also third parties might have good laws or ideas for the U.S.
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Joe Zhou
3/5/2014 12:34:23 am
In my opinion, I think third parties should play a more prominent role, third parties is a political party in opposition to the main parties in a two-party system. In the U.S, "third party" refers to any party other than the major two.
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louis liu
3/5/2014 12:36:26 am
In my opinion, the third party can provide more opinion of political problems and social problems, from the more opinions we can get more answer to solve problems. Therefore, we can solve problems in different way, it will make it better and easier to solve a problem.
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Yiyara Greenlea
3/5/2014 12:39:34 am
I think that parties do help improve policy and people because they play a very prominent role in decision that are being made throughout the government. I also think that third parties should play a more noticeable role because they are just as important.
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Ty Wang
3/5/2014 12:45:59 am
Washington warned against them. Madison argued that factions would increase participation and balance each other out. What is the reality today?
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Wendy Wu
3/5/2014 12:56:30 am
In my opinion, factions today have a high participation and kind of balanced. The government should benefit the country and citizens, while, sometimes the government does not work that efficient. On some ways, parties do improve policy and help.
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David Wu
3/5/2014 01:06:22 am
I believe that factions would increase participation and balance each other out. Each party will work hard to gain the good for themself. So, parties do help improve policy and help people. However, it will decrease the efficient at the same time.
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Sarai D
3/5/2014 03:45:38 am
Factions in the government only hinder the system at which it's being run on. Parties are a form of factions in the government. They stand for one purpose and then do another based upon their policy agendas. However, parties do help improve polices in the government and give the American citizens the voice in the government that is sometimes overshadowed by the big business of the country. An example of this is the Democratic Party on healthcare for America.
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Johnny Chen
3/5/2014 03:51:55 am
YES. More parties more ideas
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Kayla Wiley
3/5/2014 08:51:43 pm
The reality today fractions are looked at the same way as a regular political party. In today’s world political party’s role is to select candidates from their political office and support them. And I don’t believe having multiple parties in the government will damage the real reason for political parties which were just to help and support candidates, and I believe the more we create new parties we are expanding and destroying the real concept.
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Nadia
3/6/2014 12:30:54 am
Parties have become increasingly and overwhelmingly dominant in today's society. They are often concerned with what would benefit their specific group, which is not necessarily benefit the majority of Americans. The parties often are trying to counter the actions of their opposing party. It is infrequent for policies to truly make a significant, beneficial difference to America. Third parties could have a significant impact on politics in America if they had a larger role. They provide a different opinion on issues and give voters a more aware and complex view of issues instead of a strict and minimized perspective provided by the two main parties.
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Jayson Applecrack
2/23/2015 10:55:31 pm
I think 3rd parties should play a more prominent role in elections. What if both republicans and democrats are stupid election year and I want to vote for someone else.
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Cindy
2/23/2015 10:57:24 pm
I think political parties influence people too much. People tend to categorize themselves as either democrat/republican, which influences their views and opinions. These parties are the ones everyone are aware of, leaving third parties in the dark. If third parties would come out and advertise their goals and views like the democrats/republicans, there might be more variety in votes and a change in the way voting results look.
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Deshaun
2/23/2015 10:58:00 pm
Yes I believe that third parties should play a more prominent role in elections and other politics. Parties have are meant to further policy and satisfy the people. Third parties get work done
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Lil B Based God
2/23/2015 10:58:16 pm
I believe that more opinions would be heard and discussed over if third parties played a more dominant role in the government. 3 heads are better than 2, basically more ideas are better.
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Jesus Galan
2/23/2015 11:03:24 pm
I think that different parties and factions are important because if we had a government in which there's no competitions would probably be a bad one.
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Queen
2/23/2015 11:05:00 pm
I think that different parties & factions are in fact important b.c then we'll have different view pts. & competition in the govt. or whatever
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Meklit Zenabu
2/23/2015 11:05:09 pm
Parties do help improve policy and help people because they give the people a variety of choices. If there is more than one party in a country, the people will be able to choose which party's policy they believe is good for them. But if there is just one party, the people are limited to that party's stance on issues such as healthcare and immigration. For example, in America there are two major parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. These two parties usually have different opinions on issues, so people have the opportunity to choose the one that's closer to their belief. Third parties should play a more prominent role because they can bring a different kind of perspective that people may want to consider.
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raddy garcia
2/23/2015 11:10:05 pm
I do think that third parties should be more prominent because 3rd parties bring other policies to light. Having a bipartisan government is detrimental to congress because it’s on or the other. More options helps democracy.
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Simon Asem
2/23/2015 11:11:21 pm
Yes third parties should play more prominent roles because they bring a new idea and way of thinking into politics (2/24/2015)
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Ziggy Stardust
2/23/2015 11:33:10 pm
It seems that the amount of dissenting opinions and seperatism has caused stalemates, hindering progress and the decision-making process.
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Aaron Blanks
2/24/2015 01:35:37 am
I think all the parties happen to help people in some ways,depending on what party it is. Each party has their own beliefs, but the Republicans and the Democrats have beliefs that clash with one another. This makes it hard for people to gain benefits if their side happens to be losing.
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Makayla
2/24/2015 01:38:47 am
Political parties is not a good thing. Political parties separates people and causes many arguments. Nothing can get done with all the people arguing for different things to happen on a particular issue. This is known as hyper-pluralism. Because we are split into different parties it is now a competition to see who can get the most people and the most votes, nobody cares about the real issues anymore. They care about being the stronger party. If we all worked together we could solve more issues and we wouldn't fight over stupid stuff like who has the better party.
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Michael Lebron Kobe Shaq and Maybe Kevin...or Tom Hanks
2/24/2015 01:39:40 am
I think that third parties should be more important to society since they happen to have more views from a public perspective, and they happen to know what the people are actually saying.
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Rose Wang
2/24/2015 01:39:55 am
The reality is that the two parties compete and influence the government policies largely. For example, Obama proposed healthcare plan, which makes patients get more benefit. But it is a democratic idea, Republicans think it is not a good way to manage money. So different party leaders will carry different policies.
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Justin Moore
2/24/2015 01:42:49 am
the reality today is that parties have had the opposite effect of what Madison thought. Voter participation is in decline is thought by some to be caused by parties not being able to get things done. Parties should play a less prominent role because they are the reason for government distrusts.
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DC YOUNG FLY
2/24/2015 01:43:09 am
BRING DAT ... HERE BOI, Yes I believe that third parties should play a more prominent role in elections and other politics. Parties have are meant to further policy and satisfy the people. Third parties get work done
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Shabba Ranks at Crispy Cuts
2/24/2015 01:47:08 am
I think we should not have third parties since we already have enough political views from both the Republican and Democratic side.
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Jillian Lloyd
2/24/2015 01:49:48 am
In my personal I believe that the third party should play a more prominent role. They should take more parts in laws and society.
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Joyce Pan
2/24/2015 02:30:52 am
I think the third party should play a more important role. They can bring new ideas which may be good for citizens. More parties will have more good policy.
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Jocelyn Vargas
2/24/2015 10:10:51 pm
I think that the amount of political parties today is much larger than it has ever been. these parties not only help people keep up to date on governmental issues, but they also strive to activate new policies to better the lives of the people. the government can only please so many people.
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Frank
2/25/2015 01:43:56 am
In fact, I don't know how to describe this situation. But I have to say government should keep numbers of parties within a number. Because more parties will be better, also will be bad. The reason is more parties more danger. There will appear more bad guy in parties and government unable to manage.
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Shavonet Sparks
2/25/2015 11:37:30 pm
I actually do think that third party should take a more prominent role, Some parties like the Republicans and the democrats that are at their differences with certain problems in the world.
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