A THIRD PARTY
by Joseph E Johnson on Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 12:18pm
A new poll conducted by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal shows that more than 80% of Americans see problems with the two-party system. In fact, one third of America believes that America needs a third party.
OK .. it's time for a little Political Science 101. Bear with me. I want to explain to you why America will always have a two-party system, unless we institute some major change. It's a little something called Duverger's law. Duverger was a French guy who liked to study politics and people. He studied what are known as a plurality rule election system - this is what we have in the United States. In general, when you go to the polls, whoever gets the most votes wins. Right? It's winner-take-all. So if you have to get the most votes out of any candidate, your winner is almost always going to be a Democrat or a Republican. While a third party candidate may get 25% of the vote, it still isn't enough to beat the big dawgs. So whoever gets the most votes wins. Now, back to Duverger. He says that when a society has this type of voting system - plurality, first-past-the-post, winner-take-all - it will almost always result in a two-party system.
So what's the solution? Well some people, like Duverger, would argue that a proportional representation voting system would allow for the emergence of third parties. What does this mean? It means that if the Purple People party received 10% of the vote, they would receive 10% of the seats. Easy enough, right?
So see what I mean about major change? Under our current voting system, unless a third party replaces one of the current two parties, it is unlikely that it will ever play a large role in Congress. Either that or we change the way we vote altogether. And despite what PrezBo may preach, change isn't as easy as it looks.
OK .. it's time for a little Political Science 101. Bear with me. I want to explain to you why America will always have a two-party system, unless we institute some major change. It's a little something called Duverger's law. Duverger was a French guy who liked to study politics and people. He studied what are known as a plurality rule election system - this is what we have in the United States. In general, when you go to the polls, whoever gets the most votes wins. Right? It's winner-take-all. So if you have to get the most votes out of any candidate, your winner is almost always going to be a Democrat or a Republican. While a third party candidate may get 25% of the vote, it still isn't enough to beat the big dawgs. So whoever gets the most votes wins. Now, back to Duverger. He says that when a society has this type of voting system - plurality, first-past-the-post, winner-take-all - it will almost always result in a two-party system.
So what's the solution? Well some people, like Duverger, would argue that a proportional representation voting system would allow for the emergence of third parties. What does this mean? It means that if the Purple People party received 10% of the vote, they would receive 10% of the seats. Easy enough, right?
So see what I mean about major change? Under our current voting system, unless a third party replaces one of the current two parties, it is unlikely that it will ever play a large role in Congress. Either that or we change the way we vote altogether. And despite what PrezBo may preach, change isn't as easy as it looks.
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