The two-party system is not fake, it's a very real inevitability of FPtP voting.
For example: This 60-second animation shows how divided Congress has become over the last 60 years
Ignoring that also turns everything to the right (if not through actual voting, through lower turnout).
The two party system is inevitable under FPTP, true. But that does not mean change is impossible. The Tea Party managed to take over the Republican Party from the inside out.
We need a Guillotine Party to do the same thing to the Democratic Party.
I'm not seeking to defend FPTP, butf the two party system is inevitable, how come the UK has 393 political parties? It's true that one of two parties usually wins, but against that backdrop, the SNP was able to flourish in Scotland. In America you literally have Republican, Democratic parties and Independents. It is not inevitable but it certainly isn't a good system for the modern age.
I would guess it's because the size and complexity of the country, coupled with both sides cracking down hard on ballot access to third parties does that.
I don't know much about UK elections, but from what I see on Wikipedia it deploys different voting systems and even fptp is really a fptp system + party list so not exactly the same.
In US there truly is just a single election where you give a single vote for the candidate and whomever gets more votes wins.
Yes, there are primary elections too, but those aren't real elections, they are elections run by the parties to pick up their candidate. They actually could not hold election and just pick up the candidate themselves and that's what they often do for a second term.
The way it works with FPTP in US is that it naturally forces two parties, as you generally are forced to vote against someone and not for someone. This is because of there are two good candidates and one bad, the vote splits and the bad candidate wins due to spoiler effect. So people try to predict which candidates will likely win and vote for the lesser evil.
So no one in 3rd party has any chance, and generally most of the times the people who are running 3rd party are just pathetic.
Sometimes when a serious candidate runs in 3rd party it generally spoils for the candidate with similar views. That's how Bill Clinton won against HW Bush
I don't care to defend that point. The point I am focused on is Guillotine Party.
Whether we eliminate FPTP or not; whether we develop a third party or not, the leadership and ~~Billionaire~~ Problem Class needs to be removed from all parties.
The SNP flourished in Scotland because the Scottish parliament has a proportional representation system (ironically chosen to keep the SNP out of power). Their success in the Scottish Parliament helped get them when contesting FPTP in Westminster.
Some parts of those governments do have proportional representation (like Scottish Parliment where the SNP has the most representation).
Other than that, I would guess there are a lot of small reasons... like differences in structure/operation/rules, that recall elections are a thing, larger gov't bodies, and election frequency. From the outside, I'd also guess that some of these parties do/have held power for a while until they mess things up and the voters switch it out.
Also a lot of the issue here is with US presidency, and the electoral college cements it even further. That is where it is the biggest inevitability as it's a big race that largely decides the next 4 years (also a partisan senate and house can enable or stall legislature, also how the right stacked the supreme court).
This is also a long-term imbalance (as shown by the video I linked) that intensifies over time. Other systems having different factors may be what prevented it from being a huge issue there, and it probably helps that they are older/more-stable (and less individualistic) countries.
This 60-second animation shows how divided Congress has become over the last 60 years
Of course it worsened visibly with Reagan.
Incidentally, I mildly disagree with OP's analogy. Yes, the wheel is turning further to the right, yes, the democrats aren't doing enough to stop or even wheel it back, but there's no spring coil in the wheel, it wouldn't snap back by itself if you removed the blue from the picture. That's bullshit.
It worsened visibly with the dixiecrat switch, because they are a single issue voting bloc (racism).
They actually tried to run as a third party, but the dixiecrst party lost in 48, having failed to spoil truman. Thurmond's speeches here are quite profound.
The problem is that we have a voting bloc that literally wants only one thing, and it's concrete, not a vague notion of Healthcare and reducing income inequality with no concrete steps and massive, united opposing interests.
Maybe get minorities to appreciate how many dixiecrats vote the way they do only because they see non-whites as animals?
Doubtful. I didn't believe it myself till I lived there, the level of hate is just impossible to fathom.
Is this meme intentionally ignoring the massive progress on lgbt rights in the last decades or no? It's an overly simplistic representation of a very complicated issue
Democrats understand that being gay doesn't restrict their power. Republicans hate gays because they are religiously indoctrinated to hate them.
You can be gay under Democrats, but you're sure as shit gonna stay a slave.
We are not slaves by quite some stretch, as much as Republicans want that back. "Wage slavery" is a fun term, but it doesn't actually reflect the variety of options people have available to them that real slaves do not.
As long as we can unionize, the chains cannot bind us.
Agreed.
It resonates with people because in recent years we've seen an uptick in conservative politics.
The reality is that progressive vs conservative policies exist in a homeostatic relationship and there's an ebb and flow as societal norms and the overton window wander around.
The US electoral system is not representative. Wealthy donors have too much control. There are valid criticisms to be made of the Dems ...
... but ultimately it's an absurdity to suggest that the democrats block movement back to the left. In the US if you want progressive policies implemented you need to vote Democrat. That's it.
In the US if you want progressive policies implemented you need to vote Democrat. That's it.
Hell no what the shit? This thinking is why the US is going fascist. Voting democrat as a vehicle for change has been demonstrated to be a failed proposition.
Sorry, I'm not going to engage with this argument.
It was repeated ad-nauseum in the lead up to November 6.
All points have been made and re-iterated.
But that's extremely damaging to the narrative, so we're just gonna... ignore it.
Democrats aren't doing anything to try and stop the dismantling and reversing of said progress on lgbt rights in the last decades.
They are targeting all things lgbt and won't stop until officially lgbt never existed and it's a thing to be stopped by all means.
That's how i took it, this is the current situation.
Civil rights are liberal, not left specifically.
this is ridiculous and completely incorrect.
pretty colors, vapid content.
Bernie, AOC, Abrams and others are fighting for the expansion and protection of civil rights.
trump is taking away and devaluing civil rights.
It's not entirely incorrect. The two party system is designed to force both parties to appeal to the average person. But when one side goes radical and still appeals to a big chunk of voters, the other side has to consider how to capture those voters too. In the case of the democrats, that means taking an extremely conservative approach to countering the Republicans, because they somehow still believe there's a chance Republican voters will swing towards them. Young people are looking for a far more left wing government than the democrats are providing and so voter apathy among that demographic is so high, leading to this spiral. There are people fighting for sure, but the average is moving to the right.
"It’s not entirely incorrect."
The theory is not entirely incorrect.
The diagram as a representation of American politics, especially with respect to Sanders, is incorrect, lazy and harmful to political comprehension at large.
And the party's leaders are actively trying to stop them.
Also all of these people were silent or supported the Gaza genocide.
your comment is
explicitly incorrect since Sanders forced multiple votes on blocking US arms to israel,
implicitly incorrect since neither of your comments negate the fact that the diagram is incorrect.
Sometimes I wish this community would require authors to explain the meme. Where is the funny part?
I don't think it has to be funny? That said I find the ratchet analogy entirely incorrect:
Yes, the wheel is turning further to the right, yes, the democrats aren’t doing enough to stop or even wheel it back, but there’s no spring coil in the wheel, it wouldn’t snap back by itself if you removed the blue from the picture. That’s bullshit.
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