We are a two party nation. New parties have tried and failed several times. The last success, I think, was the Republican party which was an offshoot of the Whigs because, basically, the Whigs supported slavery and those that left that party to form the Republican party was a majority of the Whigs.
Now, however, I think we have a different problem. I think that all party members, of either party, have stopped talking to anybody but each other. This is a major sin of politics and, now, its also the shame of the parties. Neither, I suspect, actually have a clue. Hell, the Democrats are in such bad shape that their main thing these days is to publicly fight amongst themselves. The Republicans, however, seem to be in a process of probably starting a new party for conservatives. This is being reflected by the Lincoln Project.
I watch a lot of TV news and its becoming more and more obvious that the talking heads of Democratic TV are pretty disgusted with the Democratic party. Its not as obvious as the Republicans but close. I suspect that next year's election is going to not go well for the Dems. I also suspect that if that's true there are going to be some Dems start talking to each other about doing something about their own problems.
In other words I believe that we are living in a time of huge changes in our political parties. My only real problem is that is so damned hard to watch people in either party actually even try to fix their problems. The Republicans are just, I think, a bit ahead of the Dems but they just might catchup if they have the debacle everybody thinks they are going to have.
OH - I want to wish us all good luck!!
jgw - there's been no change since I last posted the senate which is still a 2 seat net gain for the Democrats, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as of 30 Nov 2021. As for the house - Currently the House of Representative consists of 222 Democrats, 213 Republicans. The GOP needs a net gain of 5 seats to take control of the House. Until redistricting is completed it is impossible to determine the total at-risk seats for both parties. As of 30 Nov 2021, 24 states have completed their redistricting. 157 districts have been redrawn, out of those 157, 16 are competitive or switchable. The democrats hold 13 of these seats vs. 3 for the GOP. Probable net gain for the Republican Party, 4-6 seats out of those districts that have already been redrawn. 278 districts have yet to be redrawn.
As for a viable third party, never happen. Republicans and Democrats write our election laws and they do so as a mutual protection act. If there’s one thing both major parties agree on, even if they don’t talk to each other, it’s no viable third party will ever rise. Another reason is financial. Corporations, Wall Street Firms, lobbyist, special interests, super, mega individual money donors give all their cash to the two major parties and none to third parties. The two major parties raised and spent 14 billion dollars on the 2020 elections, in third place was the Libertarians who raised and spent a bit less than 3 million. No third party can compete being outspent 14 billion to 3 million.
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/10/cost-of-2020-election-14billion-update/So, what happens is swing voters, independents tend to vote for one party one election and then the other party the next election. It doesn’t matter if both major parties make up 52% of the electorate these days or even if they drop to 40% or 30% between them. They have all the power, they have all the money, they have a monopoly which both major parties are determined to keep.
