(March 15, 2018 at 1:24 pm)Tiberius Wrote:Sure, it's not officially a two party system. But other than Perot in '92, I can't think of anyone else who's threatened to be more than a spoiler, because all the people with some viability will pick one of the major parties. Like Trump and Bernie did.(March 15, 2018 at 11:20 am)wallym Wrote: Must they have? Do you have to think positively of someone to vote for them over Donald Trump in a 2 party system?
Her policies were certainly a blend of the previous 3 presidents. I don't think 'more of the same' served her well. And her personality? You are speaking the crazy. Bill/W/Obama all were charming as hell. They still are. Bill seems to have done some raping, but he's so charming, people still like him. W broke the country, but people still find him endearing.
She was a robot status quo.
The US isn't a two party system, at least not officially. There were other candidates, and they also got votes. We didn't vote for Clinton or Trump. Clinton still won our state handily.
And the trick of it is, primaries are so much about turnout, that barring some zeitgeist, the parties can usually pick who they want to win the primary. The way the RNC got Romney the nomination instead of the morons he was running against was pretty masterful. Same with Hillary beating Bernie.
So in the end, you have half the people aligned with each party. Then 33% of those people show up to vote in the primary. And you only need 40% or so to vote for your person. You can get a nominee with 10% of the populations support. It's not a great system.
