Meet Omar Ali

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uncg.edu

Tomorrow the nation will go out to the polls and pick its president. Whatever the outcome, you can bet the winner will be either a Republican or a Democrat. But why is that? How did a Democratic nation where the people pick their leaders, whoever they may be, become a choice between two parties?

Omar Ali, an associate professor of African American studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a founding member of North Carolina Independents, says it doesn’t have to be this way. The two-party system took hold of American politics early in the nation’s history, but the country is slowly waking up to a different way of doing things. Host Frank Stasio talks to Omar Ali about his life and work.