the hard part is breaking the 2 party cycle. we have other parties, they just don’t have a chance :/

No.

OH **** THIS IS TOO INTENSE FOR ME

Having more choice does allow for the picking of a (hopefully) better qualified candidate.

The candidates now, in my opinion, are terrible.

IrascibleRedoubt Posted:

Having more choice does allow for the picking of a (hopefully) better qualified candidate.

The candidates now, in my opinion, are terrible.

We do have more candidates. Democrat and Republican aren’t the only two parties, just the biggest.

nanafabulous personjesus Posted:

Correlation does not equal causation.

Fixing crime will not be as simple as having more parties.

Fully agreed on that point.

To answer the question, I’d argue that having more than two parties in the mix does not make a government inherently more democratic. There are at least a dozen prerequisites that most political scientists would agree a government must meet in order to be considered democratic… but that’s basically the political science nerd in me talking.

I agree that the “winner takes all” method of appointing elected officials sucks, and proportional representation would be more representative of the actual voice of the electorate.

Mary is right.

I honestly think we need a remake of our current government.

Too much power in the wrong places creates revolution, and revolution creates temporary happiness.

Fail…

mary misanthrope Posted:

But you can’t ignore the fact that, de facto, we have two parties. Other parties may be legal and get votes, but they don’t get a proportionate amount of seats in Congress.

That’s the people’s fault. That and lack of media exposure, but if more people were willing to put some effort into finding out what they want in government, and then finding a candidate whose policies they agree with then things would certainly be a lot better.

IrascibleRedoubt Posted:

Mary is right.

I honestly think we need a remake of our current government.

Too much power in the wrong places creates revolution, and revolution creates temporary happiness.

Our government isn’t whats wrong; You’re oversimplifying. Partisan politics and the people are. The constitution allows us to do everything we need to ‘fix’ things. But keep in mind not everyone agrees on what needs fixing and how to fix it.

Too many people are content with picking between a giant douche or a turd sandwich, especially older generations who fear change almost as much as they fear kids or brown people. Once this useless limb of an older generation dies off, maybe some sort of political revolution will occur. I doubt it though, look how badly the baby boomers sold out to the traditions of their parents.