Extremes are ripping the country apart. Given this state of affairs, I really don’t blame the proverbial youth for being apathetic. When we pay attention, we see an increasingly polarized world governed by man-made institutions as irrational as the universe they seek to control.

We rally behind campaign cries of “Hope” and “Change,” wanting it desperately, while feeling less empowered every day. Occasionally we get lucky and witness what a specific majority is nearing consensus on considering tenable improvements in the general well being of humankind. But we only get glimpses of it.

The country recently saw a societal right to basic health care expanded to thousands of people needlessly suffering from treatable ailments. That was pretty neat. Unfortunately, the zero sum game of political tug-of-war between the only two viable parties in our bipartisan system ensured we only got a glimpse of that accomplishment. Driven by the demands of a political duopoly, where one party’s victory is necessarily the other’s loss, Republican obduracy slammed the door on hope and change before Democrats could barely get a foot through.

Democrats are by no means free of guilt. Presenting a massive health care overhaul as a forgone conclusion that they would push through with or without Republican support all but ensured a caustic bipartisan battle that maimed a promising piece of legislation. What could have been a beam of light for American social progress became a meager glint of well-intentioned, but ultimately weak piece of legislation.

And so the story seems to always go. Lady Liberty, caught between two bullishly addled political parties, isn’t putting out for either of them. Just as we think she might finally let it happen, that she might finally impart her promise of truth, liberty and justice for all, she tells us she’s not in the mood, rolls over and farts on our leg.

Time to spice things up. How bout a m?nage a trois?

If you’re thinking “third party,” we’re on the same page. If you’re thinking that metaphor doesn’t quite work because there are already two political parties screwing Lady Liberty and adding a third would actually make it more of a gang bang, we’re about to catch up.

Political parties are in themselves metaphors of a type. They seek to represent and explain complicated issues in an easily digestible way by relating them to an unrelated yet relatable object. Instead of articulating individual genuine beliefs about a plethora of exceedingly complicated and intricate issues ranging from abortion to international fiscal policy, we just call ourselves Democrats or Republicans.

The problem is at some point every metaphor breaks down and becomes illogical. Take the common example of the “housing bubble.” While it may be a useful way to conceptualize certain trends in real estate commerce, there will always be intricacies in the housing market that can’t be explained by relating them to the nature of a gaseous amalgam contained by an expandable membrane.

Political ideologies are the same way. There is just no way a party label can adequately represent the minutiae of your true personal beliefs on every politically relevant topic.

Therein lies the fatal flaw of our current bipartisan system. If you extend any political ideology to it’s logical extreme, it becomes illogical. ‘Republican’ or ‘Democrat’ becomes just as poor of metaphors as having a threesome with Lady Liberty if you extrapolate them far enough.

Unfortunately, in a strictly bipartisan system both parties naturally tend toward their logical extreme. Obviously public opinion, media commentary and personal politics will follow suit. Sure there are the forlorn political moderates, but how often do you see them making headlines, or mindlessly jawing oversimplified pedantry on cable news networks?

If you consume any basic level of media nutrition, extremes appear to be all there is to form political ground to stand on.

The mainstream media has polarized itself to the insane extreme of considering Glenn Beck a legitimate source of rational thought, not to mention a genuine source of political commentary. And the governing parties that represent the pillars of the great democratic experiment aren’t much better.

Thankfully, democracy – at least the American brand – has no stipulations or constitutional rules mandating that “there shall only be two political views from whence to govern.”

Third parties in America have become something of an afterthought. Everybody knows they’re there, but nobody wants to vote for them from fear of wasting the main remnant of political power ‘we the people’ possess.

In actuality, voting for third party or independent candidates could very well be the most valuable democratic act you can do this November. Rather than begrudgingly voting for the lesser of two evils, why not vote in favor of restoring sanity to our political system and ending the despotic duopoly that has degraded the political climate of our country to the point of being dominated by irrational extremes?

There is currently a great opportunity to bring the third party option back to life in Wisconsin.

The numbers of independent and third party Assembly candidates in Wisconsin this year are at a historic high. With 25 general assembly candidates running in 23 districts, the state hasn’t seen this level of participation from non-traditional party candidates since 1974. It seems aspiring politicos are catching on, now we have to vote for them.

Come November, unless you can honestly say you are voting for a candidate you genuinely believe in, do the world a favor and vote for democracy. Vote third party.

Kyle Mianulli ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in philosophy, political science and journalism.