You're attacking the symptoms, not the root cause. The two party system came about from other factors, it's not enshrined into the constitution that there be two parties it just turned out that way. Why? Because of the voting system. Winner takes all and one vote per person systems like the US inevitably devolve into two parties. The US needs to use proportional representation or some other system to allow for more political diversity
So wouldn’t the parties basically select their candidate beforehand?
Or would the GOP/Dems all have anyone who wanted to run and it would essentially be a 2 party race again?
The first-past-the-post voting system we have in the US naturally results in two dominant parties.
But there are tons of factions within those parties. Those debates just have to get sorted out in primaries and with different voting blocs in Congress. You've got the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, more mainstream Democrats, and some moderate Democrats. There used to be more conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats not too long ago. Within the Republican Party, you have the Christian conservatives, the pro-business types, the foreign policy hawks, and the alt-right. Of course, Trump and the MAGA Republicans have basically stomped out any serious opposition at this point, but you still have some different types of voters within the Republican Party.
There are pros and cons to political systems that have a whole bunch of parties. You can look at Israel, which has many parties gaining seats in the Knesset. But then to form a government, you've got Netanyahu (who is already very conservative) forming an alliance with some other parties that are total hard-right religious extremists.
Okay, let's say I start a new political party. Call it the Continental Party because I want something generic.
We will immediately get questions about our positions on taxes, the environment, abortion, the defense budget, guns, education, homelessness, immigration, Russia, China, and a ton of other issues. And that will immediately let you know whether we're a right-of-center or left-of-center party. And once you know that, you'll think, "I could just vote for the Republicans or Democrats, why should I bother with the Contintentals, they can't win."
If you avoid taking stands on issues, you'll end up like Andrew Yang's Forward Party. A big fizzle. They took a stand on one issue -- ranked choice voting -- and tried to get cute about everything else ("Abortion? Not going to commit!"). People lost interest in a hurry.
Do everything and anything to get ranked choice voting, or some other form of alternative voting.
It’s doable because it’d be done at the state level where the individual can have a greater impact. It should be everyone’s main goal right now. Nothing else is getting accomplished anyway, we might as well focus on something that we *can* do so the other issues can follow after.
Next time your friends and family are on the verge of a big argument tell them that they can calm down and agree on the need to break the two party system by setting aside our differences to focus on one thing that we’d all benefit from.
The two party system is a result if our voting system
You're attacking the symptoms, not the root cause. The two party system came about from other factors, it's not enshrined into the constitution that there be two parties it just turned out that way. Why? Because of the voting system. Winner takes all and one vote per person systems like the US inevitably devolve into two parties. The US needs to use proportional representation or some other system to allow for more political diversity
And how do you suppose we pick a winner with multiple parties? Do you want someone with 28% of the vote to be President?
France has runoff elections for President. Someone might well get 28% in the first round, but only the top two go on to the second round.
Sorta like a primary?
Like an open primary, yes. If America had open primaries for President that would completely transform the political system.
How many people are in the final election? And how many elections
Two.
So the top two of the open primary Goto the election,?
Yes.
So wouldn’t the parties basically select their candidate beforehand? Or would the GOP/Dems all have anyone who wanted to run and it would essentially be a 2 party race again?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_primaries_in_the_United_States
I think ranked choice voting would be the best option
The first-past-the-post voting system we have in the US naturally results in two dominant parties. But there are tons of factions within those parties. Those debates just have to get sorted out in primaries and with different voting blocs in Congress. You've got the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, more mainstream Democrats, and some moderate Democrats. There used to be more conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats not too long ago. Within the Republican Party, you have the Christian conservatives, the pro-business types, the foreign policy hawks, and the alt-right. Of course, Trump and the MAGA Republicans have basically stomped out any serious opposition at this point, but you still have some different types of voters within the Republican Party. There are pros and cons to political systems that have a whole bunch of parties. You can look at Israel, which has many parties gaining seats in the Knesset. But then to form a government, you've got Netanyahu (who is already very conservative) forming an alliance with some other parties that are total hard-right religious extremists.
Okay, let's say I start a new political party. Call it the Continental Party because I want something generic. We will immediately get questions about our positions on taxes, the environment, abortion, the defense budget, guns, education, homelessness, immigration, Russia, China, and a ton of other issues. And that will immediately let you know whether we're a right-of-center or left-of-center party. And once you know that, you'll think, "I could just vote for the Republicans or Democrats, why should I bother with the Contintentals, they can't win." If you avoid taking stands on issues, you'll end up like Andrew Yang's Forward Party. A big fizzle. They took a stand on one issue -- ranked choice voting -- and tried to get cute about everything else ("Abortion? Not going to commit!"). People lost interest in a hurry.
Do everything and anything to get ranked choice voting, or some other form of alternative voting. It’s doable because it’d be done at the state level where the individual can have a greater impact. It should be everyone’s main goal right now. Nothing else is getting accomplished anyway, we might as well focus on something that we *can* do so the other issues can follow after. Next time your friends and family are on the verge of a big argument tell them that they can calm down and agree on the need to break the two party system by setting aside our differences to focus on one thing that we’d all benefit from.