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A third party would definitely never get anything done. The established dems and republicans will actually ban together to stop a third party from even thinking of getting a foot in the door. The established politicians are just too deep in bed with those who are behind the building of the United States infrastructure, and they will use those connections to crush any opponent who truly has the hard working American's interest at heart.
If you want multiple parties in the national legislature, where two or more of them would have to form coalitions for the purpose of governing, then what you want is a parliamentary democracy, not a constitutional republic such as ours. Our system just doesn't lend itself to anything other than a duopoly of legislative power.
In parliamentary democracies, the government can be dissolved essentially on the whim of the prime minister, with new elections scheduled within 30 days. There may be half a dozen political parties jockeying for positions of power in the new legislature, and at least two of them will have to coalesce in order to form a majority in the legislature.
In the U.S., the government NEVER dissolves; only the faces of those who serve in the legislature change, and that is usually due to death, disability or retirement. The chief executive cannot dissolve the government and call for new elections, because the dates of the general and off-year elections are essentially written in stone.
In other words, if you want viable third, fourth, fifth, etc., parties here in the U.S., you'll need to chuck the Constitution in order to do it.
Not many in this country are ready for that step. What works for Italy may not work so well for the U.S.
It could be that a charismatic leader is needed for a third party to emerge.
Ross Perot - 1992 / 1996
It still didn't happen. Ross got 8% in '96 election and then his Reform Party faded away.
The system is broken, and unfixable unless we're able to drain the swamp with Trump. If he goes down, so do all hopes of fixing this mess.
The way the Constitution is written and everything it created makes it hard for more than 2 parties to exist. There's nothing to stop the rise of a party, and there have been times when there was a powerful 3rd party, but it always settles back on just two.
I don't know if that was intentional or not, but I suspect it was, as Britain is essentially a 3-party system, with 2 very different Houses- the house of commoners and the house of lords, and the 3rd being royalty, the king or queen. Each house allows many different parties within it, so governing is most often done by coalitions. And in every coalition, there's a power struggle going on within it.
The founders wanted no royalty, but they also wanted no nobility here. Much of the colonial problems arose from the Parliament's coalitions, so they probably sought a more direct system that allowed for swifter and easier changes of government.
A bi-cameral system was easier to create in a new nation where there was no traditional leading class and the citizens wanted none. But the founders saw that parties can rise and fall, so they allowed for that to happen in their new creation.
The Democratic and Republican parties have both proven themselves more flexible and durable than the earlier parties of the 18th and 18th centuries, when there were lots of parties on a ballot.
The citizens always tended to prefer just two, one progressive and the other conservative. Those are the two basic political poles.
The third parties have always combined elements from the basics, or were special interest parties that represented a single group, often economic.
All the other great social experiments that came at the turn of the 20th century- Anarchy, Communism, Socialism, etc. never were able to get established enough to survive for long as a political force here. That was probably due to the ability of the 2 main parties to cherry-pick the elements from them all that the citizens wanted at the time.
Our 'winner takes all' electoral college presidential process inevitably leads to a two-party system. It's simple arithmetic.
This man answered the question. But remember, the two parties are not ideological parties. Ideological parties CANNOT win. Each party is a coalition, which tries to represent as many "special interests" as possible.
The goal of each party is to win 51% of the vote. No more, and no less.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jacqueg
Some states and localities have been experimenting with systems designed to make it easier for minority parties to compete. Success has been modest.
All election systems gravitate towards two parties. In large part because of the massive amount of resources required to run a campaign. But whether they are parliamentary coalitions, or single-party coalitions, they are coalitions all the same.
In any case, discussing election systems is kind of pointless. The real issue is the role that the media(IE propaganda, fake news, etc), and money, have in elections. Until that is solved, everything else is merely a distraction.
Third parties do exist I think. But from what I can tell, none of them have any experience in governance nor do they seem to have a realistic platform
The only times a third-party or independent candidate has been elected president in this country, in the modern era, has been on television shows. And the characters portrayed, were the kind of presidents we all wish could be for real. But reality doesn't seem to result in such good results that script-writers can produce. I don't think we could come up with a worse system to select a leader, if we tried.
The divide between Democrats and Republicans is nothing new. The media makes it appear that with Trump this is the most divided we've ever been. Whether I agree with that viewpoint or not (I don't), I still wonder that after centuries of battling, why hasn't some sort of middle ground third party risen to equal power, forcing real changes in government?
The two party system has it's positives (checks and balances), but I think as the population has grown and times have changed (technology and whatnot), that it could be said the two party system is outdated. Or maybe the viewpoints of the left and right on their own are too extreme and create a natural divide in the U.S.
Do you think at some point in the near future a third party could rise to enough prominence to force much more bi-partisan ethics to come to a more middle ground and maybe fend off a third party? Or if a third party could rise would it change the system of government currently in place?
Risky investment could be one of the reasons. It may require 100 and billions of dollars to start the ground work and support the candidate. Who is going to invest that much from his own pocket or find big corporates that are not corrupt and not crooks, and they will be ready to pour millions in donations?
Also, and very importantly, a multi party election would give it the form of democracy that is practiced in the third world countries.
Many parties run the election and usually one party does not win the required majority to form the govt so coalitions happen - which are always a messy business.
The general and basic model of democracy in the first world countries is based on two parties system. Folks have to pick one.
I think Australia is the only country where voters have a third choice, which is, "neither of the two competing party candidates". This makes Australia the country with highest voting turn out, which is usually 98%.
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