
Is the Internet destroying the U.S. two party system? - simulate
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/22/did-social-media-produce-the-new-populism
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PaulHoule
The system is destroying itself. Nader likened in 2000 to two drunk boxers who
are leaning on each other for support.

The constant state of "phony war" means that politicians can get legitimacy by
participating in symbolic fights over unimportant issues and thus don't get
called account for dealing with the problems in front of them.

At point it is breaking down. Right-Wing hysteria is revealing itself to be a
scam like Scientology.

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dozzie
The big problem with modern politics (US or otherwise) is that the issues are
bundled together without any regard of being connected other than "it was
always bundled this way", like gun ownership with gay marriage with market
regulation.

Society can't hold politicians accountable for specific issues, it's always a
package. The (hypothetical) guy did a good job on banking regulation, but made
sh&t all over intellectual property, and he only can be "fired" as a whole, by
not being elected later.

And now try to rally up enough force because of the IP bill! You won't get
much leverage, because you attack _him_ , which includes banking issue, so
you'll get an opposition that doesn't care about IP, but likes his work about
banks.

Why not reward him for the former action _and_ punish for the latter?

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DougN7
IMHO, the best thing for the US would be a legitimate third party. Doesn't
even really matter too much what it stands for as long as it forces coalitions
to form which I hope will pull everyone back towards the center.

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thekaleb
That cannot happen until the US does away with first-past-the-post voting.

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jcslzr
political parties should be illegal, one of the founding fathers warned us
about it

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thekaleb
A good first step would be to get rid of the R and D next to names on state
sponsored ballots.

