It occurred to me today that I am not sure about America anymore.

There are a number of reasons why this is true, but one of them is the two-party system.

My children and I were having a conversation recently about the Constitution. We were cleaning and rearranging in our library (yes, we have a library) and we came across some copies of the Constitution that I’d purchased years ago, one for each of the kids to have at some point. So, we started talking about the Constitution and talking about the foundations of the country. Eventually, we got around to discussing politics. One of my children ended up asking, “Why are there only two choices for a president?”

So I explained to them that there are more than two choices, but that America has been a two-party system for a very long time and that the other candidates –like Darrell Castle, the candidate that I voted for in 2016– never end up getting enough votes to win.

So, then we started talking about options and what does one do when you don’t like either of the options and what would it be like if you only had two options in other situations. Imagine a restaurant with only two items on the menu or a clothing store with only two different blouses for sale.

Basically, discussions like these in our house always end up leading to a bunch of questions –many without answers.

So, I told my children that the things that exist in the world that no one understands, or even appreciates, many times exist because no one has thought of a better way to do it. Ideas, especially better ideas, lead to better ways of doing things. I was hoping to inspire them to start to look at the world as a place where progress is often possible, with better ideas and better approaches.

Then, even more recently, I was talking to my father-in-law about my disgust with the two-party system and how I wish it were different and he asked me about how it would work. I said, “I don’t know how it would work.” We never really got anywhere from there.

I wish I could have answered him with some intelligent ideas.

Now, my family can’t be the only family that’s asking questions about the way things are. We can’t be the only ones that wonder why there can’t be a better way.

John Adams once wrote that “a division of the republic into two great parties … is to be dreaded as the great political evil.”

George Washington, in his farewell address at the end of his final term as President, described two-party politics as “a frightful despotism”.

If polarized, two-party politics was NOT what the founding fathers had in mind, how did we end up here? And, what can we do to change the situation?

I wish I knew.