From Post & Riposte: "I was born in 1967 and unlike my fellow Xers have spent the last 10 years working in politics. I worked as a lobbyist on pro public safety issues. I have experienced political wins and losses. Either way the process is so corrupt it's disgusting. Even when you win it is often for the wrong reason and you can't feel entirely good about it.... [Halstead] is right that for change to happen Xers would have to flex their muscles, but it will take more than learning the issues and voting. AARP is the voting block in America, boomers are going to make it even stronger. If Xers want to affect elections they will have to do two things in mass: 1. Vote early in the morning. 2. Go directly from the polls and make sure that a couple of over 35s don't vote. That ain't going to happen." --Michael Forsyth, "My So-Called Generation" (08/12) What do you think? Join the conversation.

I don't forsee a third party emerging any time soon. Still, I believe it is important to discuss the ways America would benefit from multi-party politics. I am not against the Democratic and Republican parties. But I think they no longer represent enough of a political spectrum to give most Americans a voice and a choice. The past two summers I attended a forum of twenty-five Americans and twenty-five Germans organized by the Herbert Quandt Stiftung, a German foundation that runs several annual civic seminars. There were Republican and Democratic political operatives from America, but the German attendees included members of several parties, including Bundestag member Cem Ozdemir of the Green Party. Ozdemir specializes in issues of environmentally sustainable economic development. He also questions the treatment of the Turkish minority in Germany, of which he is a member. Ozdemir and I spoke extensively about what it meant to be part of a teeny-tiny party in a big federal system. His assertion -- which I agreed with -- was that the issues he supported still got a much better airing than if he simply had to lobby, boycott, or petition other political parties. I strongly believe that America' s two-party democracy, at least as it exists today, cuts out the input of many Americans, including Gen Xers.

In the past decade, the Reform Party movement has proven that a constituency for a third party exists, but that the infrastructure does not. I agree with Ted Halstead that America's two political parties are often trying to appeal to the same core constituency. Given America's changing racial and cultural composition, we need more room for dissent, debate, and ultimately synthesis on important national issues. Right now, America is about 75 percent non-Hispanic white. In just fifty years America will be only 50 percent white, and half of the population will be black, Latino, Asian, and Native American. Most non-white groups, including Asian-Americans, have not been able to influence the political system in proportion to their numbers in American society. It is an absolute disgrace that the U.S. Senate has just three non-white members. No, I don't think that only black Americans can represent my interests. But I sure am angry that there are no black Senators on Capitol Hill, despite the fact that we are 13 percent of the U.S. population.

America has reacted with ignorant disgust to many ideas about broadening the political spectrum. Lani Guinier was run out of Washington on a rail for even suggesting alternative forms of democracy practiced by some of our closest allies, including Israel.

I believe Generation X could benefit tremendously by the growth of a third (and fourth and fifth) party. Young Minnesotans were captivated by Jesse Ventura' s candidacy, and helped make him Governor. (How well he is governing is another question.) Young Americans want alternatives. Tucker Carlson seems to see us as a bunch of whiners, and to a certain degree that's true. But I believe most young Americans are not simply crying wolf when they say they are disenfranchised from the political system.

One reason young Americans are disenfranchised is money. Young Americans, even those who will earn high sums in the future, usually have very little money to throw into the political ring. They can't schmooze with the candidates at high-level fundraisers; they don't, for the most part, play a critical role in the preseason fund-raising that determines which candidates are viable. The people with the most money are the people with a lifetime of earnings and savings, mature working Americans and seniors. If you believe money influences politics -- and why would individuals and corporations donate hundreds of millions of dollars if it does not? -- then young Americans are ill-equipped to make their voices heard.

Next page: Ted Halstead

Farai Chideya is an ABC News correspondent and a contributor to Time and Vibe magazines. She is also the author of two books, Don't Believe the Hype: Fighting Cultural Misinformation About African Americans (1995) and The Color of Our Future (1999).