Ya, the two party system does have some unfortunate side affects as you describe here. There are some other governments that have a multi-party system. I worked in the Scottish parliament while I was in college and got to experience that first hand. It definitely gives people some
More variety at the polls, for example you can vote for the conservative, liberal, lib dems, green and nationalist parties. But it still has the issue of making people pick someone that the party has vetted and approved as best promoting their platform.
One thing about a two party system that I like is that the parties are forced to figure out how they are going to handle the right and left wings by adopting some of their policies… thinking of the tea party and of the Ron Paul libertarians that mostly vote with the republicans in the US. So practically, you go to the polls and probably vote republican of you support their causes. So ya, it dilutes the representation in congress of those folks, but it also makes it easier to vote, because let’s be honest, even when I do read and study the candidates before I go to the polls, it’s hard to cut through the crap and separate candidate from party platform. Most voters don’t take the time to do that so voting along left lines does make it possible to keep the government running when the populace is disengaged and disenchanted from politics.
Ya, the two party system does have some unfortunate side affects as you describe here. There are some other governments that have a multi-party system. I worked in the Scottish parliament while I was in college and got to experience that first hand. It definitely gives people some
More variety at the polls, for example you can vote for the conservative, liberal, lib dems, green and nationalist parties. But it still has the issue of making people pick someone that the party has vetted and approved as best promoting their platform.
One thing about a two party system that I like is that the parties are forced to figure out how they are going to handle the right and left wings by adopting some of their policies… thinking of the tea party and of the Ron Paul libertarians that mostly vote with the republicans in the US. So practically, you go to the polls and probably vote republican of you support their causes. So ya, it dilutes the representation in congress of those folks, but it also makes it easier to vote, because let’s be honest, even when I do read and study the candidates before I go to the polls, it’s hard to cut through the crap and separate candidate from party platform. Most voters don’t take the time to do that so voting along left lines does make it possible to keep the government running when the populace is disengaged and disenchanted from politics.