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[smjjames]

Third parties do exist, it's just that they haven't gotten enough votes in a primary to become a full blown party like the republicans and democrats are. The green party may have come close to that when Nader snagged Oregon, or was it Florida? The last time a third party actually had any significant power in the elections was Theodore Roosevelt and his Bull Moose party.

It's about time a third party mixed things up.

[Urist Imiknorris]

The American Political System has broken down into an eternal war between the Democrats and Republicans.

This. Both sides have progressed to/past the point of demonizing the other and blaming them for everything that's wrong with America. Both sides' accusations are correct, yet neither side is willing to accept that. The Republican party is currently dominated by a roiling mass of hatred for anyone who isn't them, and the Democrats persistently try to make peace and let their powers combine and fail because they're pansies.

_{Read the bolded letters.}

[Aqizzar]

Who you can blame are Dick Armey and Karl Rove, who essentially created the Tea Party, largely funded by coal and oil money.  They don't dictate terms or policies by any means.  The Tea Party is basically cannon fodder for the Republican party, charged up, funded, and then turned loose across free national broadcasting, for the express purpose of drowning out opponents and reasonable debate (not that debate has been terribly reasonable since 1979, but you get the idea).  Most establishment Republicans couldn't give a shit about the Tea Party's sundry platforms and demands, they're a useful tool and nothing more.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

When it comes to other parties, the only ones with a chance are Green, Constitution, and Libertarian. Problem is, Green and Constitution are dead ringers for radical and reactionary parties, respectively. Libertarian is "my" party, but they don't act how I would like them to. If the three of them were to shake up the Democrats and Republicans, it might help, but it also might risk crazy law changes. Say what you will about the Democrats and Republicans (and you can say a lot), they still only change things little by little. Speaking of that, this reminds me that we don't really have a good Moderate party. Constitution is Reactionary, Republican is Conservative, Democratic is Liberal, Green is Radical, and Libertarian is...Libertarian, but there's no one to fill the Moderate slot at all.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Most establishment Republicans couldn't give a shit about the Tea Party's sundry platforms and demands, they're a useful tool and nothing more.

I always knew they were evil overlords in training...

[smjjames]

On a more serious note, I wonder if Europes multi-party systems actually fare any better, we just have a shitty senate that is mainly filled with older guys. We need more people of our generation in there.

[Aqizzar]

I could go into a long diatribe about how a bit too much is made of ideological purity of the American parties and the perceptions thereof.  But I know my place, nobody wants to hear me dribble out wonkish crap for page after page.*

I can say that American parties are considerably less concrete than most European parties, because of how they're elected.  In Parliamentary systems, you vote for a party or whatever, and the makeup of the legislature is proportioned to that (right?  I think that's how it works).  In America, every member has to run winner-take-all, within their own district.  That means whatever their particular label, their ideologies vary dramatically across the country, because each has to hold a viewpoint that reflects a voting majority of wherever they come from.

The way the national Congress works makes the differences seem significantly smaller, but that's an effect of internal politics, not so much actual viewpoints.  State governments show this a lot more - a Maine Republican is not the same thing as a Texas Republican, a California Democrat is not the same thing as an Alabama Democrat.  This is part of why the Democrats have had so much trouble getting bills through the Senate, conservative Democrats abandoning ship on bills a little too liberal for their states.  "Moderate" is a highly mutable term, not least because nobody has the same definition, because every district has its own form of politics.

*_{And yet I wrote this post anyway.  I just can't keep it from dribbling out, it's like a medical condition.}

[Lord Shonus]

I hate to break this to you, but what Constitution says means effectively nothing, as long as the group being denied it is seen as deserving of oppression. I give you the Supreme Court deciding that everyone is allowed First Amendment rights...except for students, who don't get Freedom of Speech or Freedom of Press, and just barely edged out killing Freedom of Petition too. If they could do it to students, nothing says they can't do it to everyone else, either. You just remember that when looking at political ignorance of the Constitution, because if people beleive it to be true of the government, it's only a matter of time unitll some elected official twists that into law.

College students have all of those rights (although colleges themselves have the same power to limit them as any other private entity) . Students under college age lack them only because they are not legal adults.

[Eagle_eye]

The solution is obviously for the U.S. to become a vast network of city states, each a true democracy. New York will be 83 separate cities.

[Bauglir]

-snip-

[smigenboger]

I'm sure you can get away with that off the Mainland.

[CobaltKobold]

If this tactic is what ends up putting a woman in the White House--somehow--I am going to crack some heads and split some faces.

Blech.

Agreed. Antimeritocracy is stupid.

This 2 party system just seems broken.

Seems nothing, it is broken. The American Political System has broken down into an eternal war between the Democrats and Republicans. It isn't about what's right for the people anymore, it's about being loyal to your chosen party forever.

And remember, kids, these aren't the same two parties we've always had either. Anytime one party breaks, another full-size one rises to take its place.

The ills of faction indeed...

The solution is obviously for the U.S. to become a vast network of city states, each a true democracy. New York will be 83 separate cities.

I'm so running for Tyrant.

Don't forget the execution at the end of your term.

Lessee...I apparently need to brush up on my Amendments, though I know the important ones.

[Nikov]

Who you can blame are Dick Armey and Karl Rove, who essentially created the Tea Party, largely funded by coal and oil money.

Kindly prove this, please.

[Leafsnail]

If this tactic is what ends up putting a woman in the White House--somehow--I am going to crack some heads and split some faces.

Blech.

Agreed. Antimeritocracy is stupid.

You'd think it'd be too reminiscent of SOCIALISM for Tea Party members anyway.

Who you can blame are Dick Armey and Karl Rove, who essentially created the Tea Party, largely funded by coal and oil money.

Kindly prove this, please.

I'll give you a hint: "FreedomWorks".

[Aqizzar]

Hey guys, update-

After that debate my team and I we were literally high fiving each other thinking that we had exposed he doesn't know the First Amendment, and then when we read the reports that said the opposite we were all like 'What?'

Just sit through the longest program bump in the world, and here it from the lady of hour herself.