The political environment in the U.S. is so polarized, where members of one party may never vote for members of the other party.

Politics needs to move past power and focus on improving the lives of voters that put them in power.

It is time to leave the Democrat and Republican parties, and instead vote in favor of new independent candidates that will vote based on whether they believe the bill is good or not.

This year marks my first year that I can vote.

Even though I could not vote in the last presidential election, I could still be a part of the political process at a mock caucus at the University of Iowa. The mock caucus was composed of high school and college students who wanted experience a caucus.

It was balanced amongst the Democratic candidates. But over the course of the night, the least popular candidates were forced to merge with the other available candidates.

Current President Joe Biden’s supporters were relatively small at first, but as the night progressed, Biden’s became the largest by default. This led to the original majority in favor of different candidates merge with Biden at the end.

The 2020 election felt like it was voting between two candidates that weren’t the best fit for being the highest position in the U.S.

A two-party system reaches a point where it does not represent democracy and the people. Ads and political discussions have boiled down to arguments of “At least we are not the other party”, which decreases actual conversation.

That is why over the past two years I have moved towards independent parties.

Yes, they are smaller and lack the votes to put their candidates in charge. But they are still a better choice.

While independent parties lack the current traction to get many of the major political positions, it can be achieved over the coming years if people take the leap of faith away from Democrats and Republicans.

The money and effort often falls in the wrong hands when donated to Democrat or Republican candidates. A better use of your donations is to independent parties, especially on the local scene.

Countries like France and Germany use a multi-party system, which means that more political groups hold multiple seats in parliament, leading to no one group having absolute control.

Voting should not feel like it’s between two evils. You should not have to compromise voting for candidates that have a few things you agree with but for the majority disagree with.

Independent parties have a narrowed scope that can provide better candidates that want to fight for you and not for political power.

At the local level, we need candidates that have been through what we have been through. Candidates that represent our beliefs and opinions for how to move forward. A vote for a Democrat or a Republican could reach someone who will vote party lines rather than the better law.

By expanding membership of independent parties, it shrinks the majority Democrat and Republican parties. This not only would give people more choices in who to vote for, it would also create governing bodies that are not two parties fighting for dominance over the other.

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the author may be involved.