We need more than two viable political parties

[ElmerMudd]

We need more than two viable political parties. The Republican party has been hijacked by Trumpism. The far left is attempting to take over the Democratic party.
I suggest the Trump cult start their own political party and the far left start their own party. Both groups are absolute idiots. What if both idiot groups came together to form one party; The Ultra-Idiot Party.
How has our wonderful country created these disgusting groups of people.

 

[Billiejeens]

Too boring didn't read

 

[Thunk]

We need more than two viable political parties.

Hitler formed a 3rd party (national socialist party) (NAZI) and they won with 36% of the vote...an honest vote.

The rest is history.

 

[fncceo]

We don't have a Parliamentary-style legislature. A scatter of more than two viable parties would mean no party could get clear majority in Congress.

This would force the formation of coalitions of parties, effectively creating effectively a two-party system, the coalition in power and the opposition coalition.

 

[watchingfromafar]

In my view the more political parties there are the more diluted your vote becomes

 

[Sunsettommy]

We need more than two viable political parties. The Republican party has been hijacked by Trumpism. The far left is attempting to take over the Democratic party.
I suggest the Trump cult start their own political party and the far left start their own party. Both groups are absolute idiots. What if both idiot groups came together to form one party; The Ultra-Idiot Party.
How has our wonderful country created these disgusting groups of people.

THIS Republic runs on Electoral Votes, not political parties, the one with the most EC votes is the winner

 

[Gdjjr]

In my view the more political parties there are the more diluted your vote becomes

Diluted, convoluted- not much different-

The constitution clearly outlines the fed gov't functions- neither side of the Duopoly Party plays by the rules written expressly for them- most are lawyers and lawyers pay others to teach them to twist, spin and castigate words to fit an agenda- securing our liberty isn't a part of that agenda-their own enrichment is their agenda- give me the money I care not who has the power- follow the money, see the agenda.

 

[fncceo]

We need more than two viable political parties.

Hitler formed a 3rd party (national socialist party) (NAZI) and they won with 36% of the vote...an honest vote.

The rest is history.

The Nov 1932 parliamentary election in German had 51 parties running, Only 14 won seats. In that election, The Nazis won a third of the seats in The Reichstag, The Nazis actually LOST seats in that election, despite being the top vote-getters. Most of the remaining seats were split among the top 5 remaining parties. The only parties to gain seats in that election were The Communists and The Nationals.

The last free election in Germany, the one to give control to The Nazis was March 1933, had 15 political parties running, only 11 won any seats, the bulk of the seats going to the top 3 parties. The Nazi Party won a majority of seats in the Reichstag 288 seats compared to 201 for all other parties (Social Democrats and Communist).

Every subsequent election, the Nazi Party was the only party on the ballot.

 

[Pogo]

We need more than two viable political parties. The Republican party has been hijacked by Trumpism. The far left is attempting to take over the Democratic party.
I suggest the Trump cult start their own political party and the far left start their own party. Both groups are absolute idiots. What if both idiot groups came together to form one party; The Ultra-Idiot Party.
How has our wonderful country created these disgusting groups of people.

We've always needed more than two party (singular intentional since that's all it is) but as long as we have the bizzaro Electoral College system it can never happen. The EC keeps it there.

 

[Pogo]

We don't have a Parliamentary-style legislature. A scatter of more than two viable parties would mean no party could get clear majority in Congress.

This would force the formation of coalitions of parties, effectively creating effectively a two-party system, the coalition in power and the opposition coalition.

Aye but coaltions are not parties. They're temporary.

The way I see it political parties should be chartered, like a corporation. You get one term, of twenty years. After that BUH bye, whether you accomplished what you wanted or not. Because that's about the length of time it takes a political party to abandon whatever principles it started with and shift its prime directive to self-perpetuation.

 

[Pogo]

We need more than two viable political parties.

Hitler formed a 3rd party (national socialist party) (NAZI) and they won with 36% of the vote...an honest vote.

The rest is history.

He didn't "form" it --- it already existed and he joined it.

 

[cnm]

We need more than two viable political parties.

You'll have to get rid of the senate and have proportional representation for the House of Representatives. Don't hold your breath.

 

[candycorn]

We need more than two viable political parties. The Republican party has been hijacked by Trumpism. The far left is attempting to take over the Democratic party.
I suggest the Trump cult start their own political party and the far left start their own party. Both groups are absolute idiots. What if both idiot groups came together to form one party; The Ultra-Idiot Party.
How has our wonderful country created these disgusting groups of people.

I don’t care for term limits one little bit.

By telling me who I cannot vote for, you are telling me who I can.

But it would be intriguing however, if we had term limits that read something like the following: “ nobody can serve more than two terms for the same party.”

I bet you would see a third-party rise within a decade.

because in truth, all of the people in Washington are various shades of purple. To get to Washington however they have to wear an Overcoat that is either blue or red. I would predict a little hesitation in joining a third or even fourth party if it meant they got to keep their job.

 

[cnm]

We don't have a Parliamentary-style legislature.

You're going to need one. Your present system is a disaster.

 

[Billiejeens]

We don't have a Parliamentary-style legislature. A scatter of more than two viable parties would mean no party could get clear majority in Congress.

This would force the formation of coalitions of parties, effectively creating effectively a two-party system, the coalition in power and the opposition coalition.

Of course
They can't get it.

 

[Pogo]

We don't have a Parliamentary-style legislature. A scatter of more than two viable parties would mean no party could get clear majority in Congress.

This would force the formation of coalitions of parties, effectively creating effectively a two-party system, the coalition in power and the opposition coalition.

Of course
They can't get it.

You didn't even read the OP --- why are you taking up space in the thread?

 

[Sunsettommy]

We need more than two viable political parties. The Republican party has been hijacked by Trumpism. The far left is attempting to take over the Democratic party.
I suggest the Trump cult start their own political party and the far left start their own party. Both groups are absolute idiots. What if both idiot groups came together to form one party; The Ultra-Idiot Party.
How has our wonderful country created these disgusting groups of people.

We've always needed more than two party (singular intentional since that's all it is) but as long as we have the bizzaro Electoral College system it can never happen. The EC keeps it there.

The EC is what keeps America a Republic.

The Founding Fathers didn't mandate any political parties. to exist.

The Atlantic

America Is Now the Divided Republic the Framers Feared

JANUARY 2, 2020

Lee Drutman
Author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop

Excerpt:

George Washington’s farewell address is often remembered for its warning against hyper-partisanship: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.” John Adams, Washington’s successor, similarly worried that “a division of the republic into two great parties … is to be dreaded as the great political evil.”

America has now become that dreaded divided republic. The existential menace is as foretold, and it is breaking the system of government the Founders put in place with the Constitution.

Though America’s two-party system goes back centuries, the threat today is new and different because the two parties are now truly distinct, a development that I date to the 2010 midterms. Until then, the two parties contained enough overlapping multitudes within them that the sort of bargaining and coalition-building natural to multiparty democracy could work inside the two-party system. No more. America now has just two parties, and that’s it.

LINK

 

[fncceo]

We don't have a Parliamentary-style legislature.

You're going to need one. Your present system is a disaster.

If you feel that way, I suggest you don't leave your hobbit hole to visit us.

 

[Pogo]

We need more than two viable political parties. The Republican party has been hijacked by Trumpism. The far left is attempting to take over the Democratic party.
I suggest the Trump cult start their own political party and the far left start their own party. Both groups are absolute idiots. What if both idiot groups came together to form one party; The Ultra-Idiot Party.
How has our wonderful country created these disgusting groups of people.

We've always needed more than two party (singular intentional since that's all it is) but as long as we have the bizzaro Electoral College system it can never happen. The EC keeps it there.

The EC is what keeps America a Republic.

The Founding Fathers didn't mandate any political parties. to exist.

The Atlantic

America Is Now the Divided Republic the Framers Feared

JANUARY 2, 2020

Lee Drutman
Author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop

Excerpt:

George Washington’s farewell address is often remembered for its warning against hyper-partisanship: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.” John Adams, Washington’s successor, similarly worried that “a division of the republic into two great parties … is to be dreaded as the great political evil.”

America has now become that dreaded divided republic. The existential menace is as foretold, and it is breaking the system of government the Founders put in place with the Constitution.

Though America’s two-party system goes back centuries, the threat today is new and different because the two parties are now truly distinct, a development that I date to the 2010 midterms. Until then, the two parties contained enough overlapping multitudes within them that the sort of bargaining and coalition-building natural to multiparty democracy could work inside the two-party system. No more. America now has just two parties, and that’s it.

LINK

I don't need a link, I know how Washington felt about it and it's got nothing to do with my point. Political parties sprang up immediately after Washington, lots of them for the next half-century, and once the Civil War boiled that down to two, THAT is where the Electoral College starts perpetuating the Duopoly.

NONE of us on this board are old enough to remember a time when a POTUS election was not about voting for the lesser of two evils, or in other words voting not FOR X but to BLOCK Y. And that's because the EC system demands that Duopoly, without which nobody could hit 270 or whatever the then-current number would be. Voters in so-called "red" or so-called "blue" states --- two concepts which would not exist at all without the Duopoly and its pimp the Electoral College --- have no reason to vote at all. Your state is going red, or blue, and there ain't ****-all you can do about it. Go ahead and vote 3rd, 4th, 5th party, it will be ignored, along with everybody else in your state who voted blue or red respectively.

And that means the same thing as the old joke about the campers encountering a bear --- "I don't need to outrun that bear; I only need to outrun YOU". Neither side of the Duopoly coin has any incentive to present a quality candidate, since they're already in cahoots with the other side. And that means all they have to do is trot out a candidate who can point to his opponent and say, "at least I'm not THAT guy". And then we get yet another choice between Bad and Worse where half the country doesn't bother to vote because what's the point.

Then add the complete collusion of the so-called "Commission on Presidential Debates" comprised specifically of that same Duopoly, which sets the rules for those debates and thus ensures that nobody outside the Duopoly will ever get in them.

Matter of fact the whole strategy of any third party --- Johnson/Weld, Stein, Nader, Anderon, Wallace, Thurmond... is NOT to win the required 270, but to siphon off enough Electoral votes that nobody else does either, sending the election into the House, and thus bypassing the electorate altogether.

 

[the other mike]

We need more than two viable political parties. The Republican party has been hijacked by Trumpism. The far left is attempting to take over the Democratic party.
I suggest the Trump cult start their own political party and the far left start their own party. Both groups are absolute idiots. What if both idiot groups came together to form one party; The Ultra-Idiot Party.
How has our wonderful country created these disgusting groups of people.

You don't need to tell me. I voted for Ross Perot in 1992 and Ralph Nader in '96 and 2000, and Jill Stein in 2016. Trump in 2020.

Trump
Next best thing to a third party president.