Quote:The two party system is a major problem, but one that likely won't be solved unless there's dissent within both major parties at the same time.


Both parties have grown too large, and everybody follows the party line.  Bipartisanship is a joke, and one side will propose one thing during their term, and the other side will vote against it.  Then the next time the other side will propose the same thing, and the side that originally proposed it will vote against it.


I think we'd be better off without political parties at all, but that's being unrealistic.  So barring that, I think more parties is better than less.  Because right now it's "Big Government' vs "Small Government (except when it suits us)".  And of course neither side wants the other side to look good.  There's no incentive to work together.  Sure, sometimes they do to get things done.  But only so they can get their own agenda passed.  It doesn't matter what's best for the country, all that matters to them is what the party line says.


It's those of us who have believes in the middle that are left out in the cold.  With our only choices to be between Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber.  Sometimes we get to vote for a 3rd party candidate, but they've never got any real chance of winning.

Of course the hardcore Republicans and Hardcore Democrats don't want a third party.  They're fine with the two party system, because they want a better chance at having things their way.  It's also easy for them to blame the other guy when things go wrong.  If there were more parties, it means they'd have a much less chance of getting their guy elected.  As long as their guy has a 40%+ chance of getting in, then that's all they care about. Give the third party candidate a chance, and their chances drop almost in half.  It's their way or the highway.  


It also allows them to do nothing but sling mud at the other candidate.  Throw money at the election, and whoever throws the most will win.  Because the moderates don't have another choice.  

 

Absolutely. There was a time in this country when a political party could be replaced by another major party or it would gain different leadership and change its politics all together. That can't happen with these two parties the way things are set up now. Teddy Roosevelt, in 1912, set up his own political party (called the Progressive Party, or more commonly referred to as the Bull Moost Party) and ran for president. He didn't win, but he got 27% of the vote, more than the Republican candidate. The same 20-30% turnout occurred for most of the Progressive Party candidates and nine were elected. When was the last time you heard of a third party having that much success? Could that happen today? You may reference the tea party, but that's more of a lobby pretending to be a political entity than anything else in my opinion. 

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