re: #268 Blind Frog Belly White

First, note that what the Jungle Primary system did in California is put two Democrats on the ballot for Boxer’s Senate seat.

America will never be a multiparty state. Too much simple ‘winner take all’ majoritarianism is built into the Constitution. The FF’s may not have seen or intended it, but they sure did almost instantly go there. I’m not even sure a multiparty state is desirable. I’m not clear WHY it’s desirable.

If a 3rd Party is serious about becoming more than an election day joke - or worse, a spoiler - there’s a whole lot of work to be done at the ground level - winning seats on the City Council, the Mayor’s office, State Assembly, etc. This is how the Tea Party took over the GOP.

Personally, I don’t think Progressives as a group have that kind of dedication.

Multiparty is desireable because our political system has polarized into two enemy camps creating gridlock in Congress. If the two parties are broken up, Congress will no longer be divided into “us” and “them” and hopefully the arts of compromise and deal making will return. The Constitution doesn’t require first-past-the-post district elections, but introducing proportional representation would be hard because the two parties will be implacably opposed, and its foreign to us. But its not unconstitutional.