flacaltenn
Diamond Member
The two party system lacks stability, principle, and accountibility. While the entire country is mired in debate about "party politics", no one seems happy with the quality, character and actions of our elected officials. We lament about how they are arrogant and unresponsive to our issues.
The underlying reason for this is that 2 choices is NOT enough. We currently have a clear example of why that is a primary failure of the system. Certainly Barack Obama is not going to face a serious Democratic contender. The only choice for the party faithful is to vote a message that "we love you -- and we want we to continue". The Dem party knows that the faithful are choiceless. They EXPLOIT the lack of political choice by "triangulation" or "running to the middle" when convienient. Thats why LYING is so acceptable in politics.
Beside the limited message that can be sent to an incumbent, you have the spectacle of "safe seats".. Seats that have been so gerrymandered, that there is virtually no chance for the opposing party to prevail. Last time I checked (back in about 2004) about 20% of House seats went up for election LITERALLY UNCONTESTED. And in about another 20%, those seats were contested, but with NO HELP from the opposition Party. This leaves the minority party in that district -- who may represent as much as 45% of the voters completely disenfranchised.
A third failure of the 2 party monopoly is the inability to represent the full universe of issues that voters are concerned about. From an engineering point of view, 2 parties represent a left-right line of philosophy in which ANY candidate can find shelter during an election by running to the center of that line. It gives us a government that fails to acheive philosophical goals even WHEN one party has complete control of the Fed govt. Throw in a couple principled "extreme" parties, and suddenly candidates can't count on those votes whilst they pretend to be something that they are not during an elecction cycle.
By "extreme" I mean --- Why SHOULDN'T there be more declared Socialists like Bernie Sanders? He's a HIGHLY respected member of the Dem party. Why SHOULDN'T there be more Libertarians like Ron Paul? Why not Greens, Constitutionalists, and squishy-washy Independents? Don't let these 2 party clowns play your vote. Don't let them take it for granted. And stop REWARDING the incompetent incumbents simply because they are on the RIGHT team (or the LEFT team).
To get there -- we simply need to release the monopoly grip on ballot access. It takes several million dollars to get on 50 state ballots for a "start-up" party. Lots of lawyers, court time, salaries for petitioners involved. And getting a candidate on the state ballot doesn't neccessarily mean that the PARTY name will also appear. The Dem/Reps have erected a huge barrier to ballot access. Let's tear it down.
The underlying reason for this is that 2 choices is NOT enough. We currently have a clear example of why that is a primary failure of the system. Certainly Barack Obama is not going to face a serious Democratic contender. The only choice for the party faithful is to vote a message that "we love you -- and we want we to continue". The Dem party knows that the faithful are choiceless. They EXPLOIT the lack of political choice by "triangulation" or "running to the middle" when convienient. Thats why LYING is so acceptable in politics.
Beside the limited message that can be sent to an incumbent, you have the spectacle of "safe seats".. Seats that have been so gerrymandered, that there is virtually no chance for the opposing party to prevail. Last time I checked (back in about 2004) about 20% of House seats went up for election LITERALLY UNCONTESTED. And in about another 20%, those seats were contested, but with NO HELP from the opposition Party. This leaves the minority party in that district -- who may represent as much as 45% of the voters completely disenfranchised.
A third failure of the 2 party monopoly is the inability to represent the full universe of issues that voters are concerned about. From an engineering point of view, 2 parties represent a left-right line of philosophy in which ANY candidate can find shelter during an election by running to the center of that line. It gives us a government that fails to acheive philosophical goals even WHEN one party has complete control of the Fed govt. Throw in a couple principled "extreme" parties, and suddenly candidates can't count on those votes whilst they pretend to be something that they are not during an elecction cycle.
By "extreme" I mean --- Why SHOULDN'T there be more declared Socialists like Bernie Sanders? He's a HIGHLY respected member of the Dem party. Why SHOULDN'T there be more Libertarians like Ron Paul? Why not Greens, Constitutionalists, and squishy-washy Independents? Don't let these 2 party clowns play your vote. Don't let them take it for granted. And stop REWARDING the incompetent incumbents simply because they are on the RIGHT team (or the LEFT team).
To get there -- we simply need to release the monopoly grip on ballot access. It takes several million dollars to get on 50 state ballots for a "start-up" party. Lots of lawyers, court time, salaries for petitioners involved. And getting a candidate on the state ballot doesn't neccessarily mean that the PARTY name will also appear. The Dem/Reps have erected a huge barrier to ballot access. Let's tear it down.
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