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Spreading good ideas with someone you know is one of the simplest things we can do to improve the conversation.

• d Vedrickas replied on 07:22 AM on January 22, 2008
  I think it is a really good argument. Mr.McCain simply states the fact, that the number of independent voters increased dramatically and makes a logical assumption, that a third party should soon emerge to fill the needs of those independent voters. Simple but strong. His body language and his voice also shows, that he really knows what he is talking about.
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• d Vedrickas replied on 12:22 PM on January 22, 2008
  I think it is a really good argument. Mr.McCain simply states the fact, that the number of independent voters increased dramatically and makes a logical assumption, that a third party should soon emerge to fill the needs of those independent voters. Simple but strong. His body language and his voice also shows, that he really knows what he is talking about.
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• Ed Potter replied on 02:10 AM on October 01, 2008
  The two party system works when either party represents a majority of the people, which happens because the major party candidates tend to drift to the middle during the general elections as they have to appeal to a broader segment or coalition of people that does represent a majority of people. So it%u2019s healthy that more of us who brand ourselves Independent - people not caught up in the social extremes of either major party or want to be marginalized around some extreme position like abortion rights/wrong and gay marriage, or allow extremists to co-opt a position like a particular religious dogma.
  
  The intensity of these issues are being abated around the issue of competency in governing the country, foreign policy, and the global economy, where it simply isn%u2019t acceptable to operate with a leader who believes a certain thing about social policy, and yet hasn%u2019t the integrity to manage the countries business in a bi-partisan manner paying attention to the needs of the majority.
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• Rick Drewien replied on 05:23 PM on October 01, 2008
  Two party systems are quickly vanishing as the vestige of 19th century Democracy. With the advent of faster communications systems, and an uncreasingly diverse population, how about no parties representing to citizenry. Maybe without the veiled sameness, this country can then realize its promise and ideals.
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John McCain: Are two parties enough?

John McCain U.S. Senator, R-AZ

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John McCain: I think two parties are enough; but I can tell you that the dramatic increase in independent voter registration indicates that both parties are not satisfying a whole lot of Americans. For many, many years you were either Republican or Democrat, and the Independents were very small. Now we’re seeing a dramatic increase in Independent voter registration. So my prediction is that if neither party reasserts its influence and attraction to a majority of voters, you will probably see a third party emergence in America. That’s only logical. Recorded on: 11/20/07

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John McCain U.S. Senator, R-AZ

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John Sidney McCain III  is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election.  McCain followed his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, into the United States Navy, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he nearly lost his life in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. In October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, badly injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973. McCain experienced episodes of torture, and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. His war wounds left him with lifelong physical limitations.

He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981, moved to Arizona, and entered politics. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, and was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily in 1992, 1998, and 2004. While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain at times has had a media reputation as a “maverick” for having disagreed with his party. After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the Keating Five, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002. He is also known for his work towards restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam in the 1990s, and for his belief that the war in Iraq should be fought to a successful conclusion. McCain has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, has opposed spending that he considered to be pork barrel, and played a key role in alleviating a crisis over judicial nominations.

McCain ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, but lost a heated primary contest to George W. Bush. He secured the nomination in 2008 after coming back from early reversals, but lost to Democratic candidate Barack Obama in the general election.

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