If you say no, the twoparty system is not working, your line is going to be 202 7488001. If you are unsure what you still want to talk about this issue, your number is going to be 202 7488002. You can alwaysd text us your opinion at 202 7488003. Keep in mind, we are always reading on social media, on. Witter, and cspan we are going to have live on the two current thirdParty Candidates running for president. Coming up at 8 00 we are going to hear from Green Party CandidateHowie Hawkins. Coming up at 9 15, the jorgensenn nominee jo will discuss her platform and strategy for this years election. If you want to hear directly from those candidates, keep watching the show. First, we want to hear from you about the twoparty system in the United States. Do you think the political system is working . There is a story from cnn that talked about this earlier this year. Even if they are down on the independent candidates being presented, nearly 40 of americans think a third local party is needed to fix the system and another 47 think it needs improvements, according to a new poll. Shows 38 of respondents think a twoparty system is seriously broken in the country needs a third party. The highest number who said so since tracking the number in 1995. Independents were the most likely to have said the twoparty system is broken, at 62 . 37 of democrats and early 1 of republicans said the same. We want to know what you think. Do you think the system is working or is a third party needed in the United States . Give us a call and let us know what you think. Jeffe going to start with who is calling from indianapolis, indiana. Jeff says yes. Good morning. Caller we have tried in the past to initiate third parties, but they cant seem to build infrastructure for the financial wealth to gain enough traction. For the most part, when it comes to issues that people are dealing with politically, the twoparty system has been able to deal with most of those issues. Votedjeff, have you ever for a thirdParty Candidate in either state, local, or National Elections . Caller no. Host you say you plan to vote for thirdParty Candidate . Caller no. Host have they not had any platform . Caller theyve never been able to address the issues i felt was important to me. Host lets talk to chris who is calling from auburn, maine. Chris says no. Do you think the Current System is working well enough . Caller no i dont. I am a far leftwing democrat. Bet of my friends tend to far right republicans. I am baffled by a system where, party, lets say the republicans and another rightleaning person run against a single democrat and the right leaning person and republican get 60 of the vote combined and the democrat gets 40 of the vote, and the democrats still wins. We have that situation going on right now in maine. Maxlinear is a very strong trunk supporter trump supporter. Susan collins is embattled and we have a close race where she might be pushed out. I sarah gideon, was a democrat. If max length siphons enough votes away from susan collins, it is entirely possible that that could result in sarah winning. Im happy with that, but it is not the way it should be. If the people voted for rightwingers, they should get a rightwinger. The same thing happened when al gore lost in florida. A leftwinger ran against gore and siphoned away some 90,000 votes. We need a system where everybody can run and you can vote for who you believe you need to vote for, however, put down a second that way weice and can expand the number of people running for office. Host let me make sure i understand you. You would change the way the election system works overall, where people can choose more than one candidate instead of one person for each office . Caller absolutely. That way the twoparty system is going to lose its grip on power. Right now im afraid to vote for a thirdParty Candidate, even though i like one. Because that may result in us losing the election. I have voted thirdparty. I have voted for a rightwing guy wants once. Not going to vote for him again, but at the time my second choice would have been the democrat, which is kind of weird. Our system result in us being unable to vote for the person we like. Host lets talk to dan was calling from michigan. Dan, correct me on the name of your town. Caller im doing good. Host you dont think the twoparty system is working . Caller im not pleased with it because the way they shut it off, the democratic candidate for the republican candidate has to adapt a whole platform or nothing. In other words, you are not looking at any prolife democrat, you are not looking at any prochoice republican. So many people vote by one issue, that is one issue i have. But i dont like the twoparty system. It is either all or nothing and i dont think many people are that way. Its just, i dont know. I liked the guys, before me. I agree with what he had to say on it. Host lets go to steve who is calling from florida. Steve, good morning. Caller good morning. I dont support the twoparty system. Really good comments previously. Of them spoke about the issues i feel. Nothing really gets done. Getsrepublican president voted in for four years, then all of the policies and everything that they put through the system will get you raised the next four years if a democratic president or if a Democratic Congressional majority its put in the next four years. It goes back and forth every four or eight years, just negating everything and we dont make any progress. That is the one reason. Is, if juston what the person before me said if a very progressive candidate is running in the primary against a very moderate and one of them wins and the other, lets say the moderate winds, then the Progressive Party supporters are alienated and disenfranchised to the point where they dont really feel passionate about getting out there and vote. Even though they may be the geordie of voters, the republican is going to win the election. Pecos, it creates such a rigid atmosphere that the tot Commonsense Solutions any problem get knocked off the table. For instance, medicare for all. Efficient, right idea, but people say, oh, no, thats socialism. Host if you dont think the current twoparty system is working, how do we change as americans . Do you need to start at the local level . Do you need to look at thirdParty Candidates at the statewide level . Is the president ial level the way to start . Caller i think we need to start on the local level, for the reason the previous caller said. The Democratic National committee and the republican National Committee are such powerful corporations and they just inherently destroy thirdParty Candidates. I. E. Bernie sanders. You have to start the local level. , say, you cane is know, an i dont american socialist candidate instead of a democraticsocialist candidate and caucus separately. I think it would have to start at the state and local level because if you check to start it on a National Level, so many people have tried and the Democratic National committee and the republican National Committee thrive on the twoparty system. So, another candidate for my third or fourth party are not going to there is a barrier to entry there. Host lets talk to mike who was calling from wisconsin. Mike says the Current System is working. Caller i think it could be working. I think the Democratic Party has to stand up for what they back all the time. They cant kowtow to the republicans. On issues like abortion and such. They have to be strong on those things. They have to get away from that fox news. They are going to get blasted by them. They have to stand by their own beliefs and push it through. Also i got a kick out of the debates. Voters, league of women now each party wants to put their own people in there so they can ask their questions. If the democrats were to stand by their own beliefs, but the Party Platform is, i think they would do a lot better. Host lets look and see how the thirdParty Candidates did in the previous president ial election back in 2016. How is a chart that shows the vote broke down for all of the candidates in 2016. Major that there were two third parties that receive more than one million votes, with the libertarian candidate, gary johnson, receiving almost 4. 5 million votes in the United States. 3. 3 of the votes in the 2016 election. Green Party Candidate jill stein received 1. 1 of the vote, or. Bout 1. 5 million votes neither one of them received any electoral votes, but together the two thirdParty Candidates pulled about 5 million votes in the last president ial election. We will be talking to the current libertarian and green party for president to see how they think theyre going to do. Look and see what our social media followers are thinking about the twoparty system. Whether they think it is working or not. Here is one of our followers from facebook that says, absolutely not. It is two wings of the same bird of prey. Both parties rely on corporate contributions to maintain their stranglehold on the political process. I believe it was madison who warned about the tyranny of organized factions. Here is another person texting in. No, a twoparty system does not this nation justice. Neither party does enough for everyone. We need a third party to be better served. We deserve it. Here is another text that says, no, the twoparty system is not working. We need a Workers Party to address the concerns of the common worker. Theis a tweet that says, twoparty system has come one conglomerate. Their policies just for slightly and the American People continue to fall for. One last week that says, we need five parties that all get equal coverage in the media. Our question for you this morning is, do you think the twoparty system is working . Lets talk to karen who was calling from phoenix, arizona. Karen says no, the twoparty system is not working. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. Theer no, i dont think twoparty system is working. To promotearty needs themselves more. The ideas from each one, there is good ideas. And then when it gets to the senate, it just freezes up. Host karen, how do we change the system . Caller i think that when we get there,rd one in their if they promote themselves enough with the good ideas, they will get the electoral votes. Host do you think they should start pushing at the president ial level what you think there needs to be more work done at the state and local level first . Caller i think it needs to start at the state and local level. Host have you ever voted for a thirdParty Candidate . Caller yes, im going to be. Host youre going to vote for a thirdParty Candidate in the National Election in your state and local elections . Which one are you talking about . Im trying to think of his name. The astronaut. Is not democrat and he is not republican. He has really good ideas. Host ok. Lets go to randy who is from inglewood, ohio. Randy says no, the twoparty system is not working. Good morning. Caller good morning. I think that since we are going through all of this, we ought to try to not have any party. Have everybody run as an independent, both for your best candidate. That way you have to know more about everyone you are voting for. A lot of people if they are republican, they vote all republicans and they may not even know their congressman or whoever, they just vote on party lines. Congress,get to everybody is independent. Im sure there are times when republicans [indiscernible] you can see that now. The democrats are voting for it. Same way,ote the republicans vote the same way. Maybe congressman ought to just not have a d or r in front of their names. Host lets talk to thomas calling from houston, texas. It seems like you are not 100 sure. What do you think about the twoparty system . Caller first you got to get a chance to vote. With Citizens United and all of the rest of this, if you dont get a chance to vote, what is the difference . Ive got a bet with a friend of mine. He is conservative. Massive spread of voter fraud, so i said, how many people have been arrested . I told him maybe 500, he says 1500. Can you let me know how many people have gone to jail for voter fraud . Weve got to read of the money and give people a chance to vote. Every time i go to vote, well, were not voting in your strict today. District today. You cant keep weaving the goalpost. Is this fair . Thank you. Host lets go to carl calling from west babylon, new york. Good morning. Caller good morning. I absolutely agree with the previous speaker. More than a twoparty system. We ought to have a Constitutional Convention. What do you think . Host what would you change in the constitution if there was a Constitutional Convention . Especially about voting and parties . Caller first of all, i would like to see multiple parties. Ifont want 100 parties, but we had multiple parties there could be some general consensus, some agreement. We are at a loggerhead in congress right now. They never seem to agree. Host first of all, let me point out that right now there is no mention of Political Parties in the u. S. Constitution. You would mandated that there be multiple parties . Caller i wouldnt mandate anything. I would have a Constitutional Convention so that we as citizens of this country could decide what direction we want to go into. I dont like seeing congressman and senators six years, four years would i dont like seeing Supreme Court justices lifetime. Yearst like every four having to vote for a president. We need to move ahead. Changehat would you president ial terms to . Ander right now it is four i would like to see at seven. Thats a really interesting proposition there. Lets go to clyde was calling from fayette, mississippi. Clyde says no, the system is not working. Good morning. Caller good morning, how are you . Host im good. Ahead, clyde. Ofler no one that i know ailey the political system in the political system, republicans or democrats, is adhering to the scripture that says, trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not into your own understanding. I have done that and found a cure for likes being shot at police, but you have not heard anything about it. Invention. [indiscernible] im telling every black listening to me this morning, the police, the gang banger cannot shoot you down. Callingts go to rita from freehold, new jersey. Good morning. Caller good morning. Yes, i believe in our twoparty system. I disagree with the guy saying they should go seven years so we could be stuck with trump for seven years. I think the democrats are too weak right now. If this was the Republican Party, trump would be gone. Right now he is committing genocide, he is murdering people. Now we are being blackmailed with money if we dont send our children back to school. He is not going to give us money for our schools. That is genocide. By thebeing exterminated Republican Party and it is crazy. Host lets go to tom who was calling from waterford, michigan. Good morning. Caller good morning. Expert taking my call. I believe the twoparty system is working. It can be expanded to a three party, four party, 10 party, whatever. If you do that you are going to get people in office who are not qualified and the majority, obviously, not put them in party. Host you are saying that if the system expands beyond the two major parties the thirdParty Candidate might not be as qualified as the democrat or republican candidate . Caller it is not so much being qualified. I think that could be an argument, because your thirdparty person could be qualified. I am young enough to have been there before. We had ralph nader as the third party. We had ross perot as a third party. They were probably qualified, but unfortunately they did not have the majority. Suited majority is best with a twoparty system. You cannot divide it any more than two, otherwise you dont get a majority. Host speaking of president ial candidates from third parties, the previous caller mentioned the runs of both ralph nader and ross perot. There have been thirdParty Candidates who have received electoral votes in the united votes, not just popular but electoral votes for president. Lets look at who those were. Going all the way back to 1860, john breckenridge, who was in the constitutional Democratic Party received 72 electoral votes for president. Bell, who was the Constitutional Union party also received 39 electoral votes. In 1912 former president the indoor roosevelt ran as a thirdParty Candidate under the progressive ticket and received 88 electoral votes. 1948 former u. S. Senator wasnt former back then, but strom thurmond, who ran as a democratic candidate received 39 electoral votes. Wallace968, george received 46 electoral votes. In addition to receiving popular votes, they also received electoral votes, which shows that a thirdParty Candidate can get into the running for president of the United States. Now, what are we looking at when people talk about where they are aligned in the United States . This is coming from gallup. This is the most recent information gallup has four americans right now. The may 28june 4 period, 25