2 v many
yesterday's post asked why we have two parties. simple (minded maybe): majority rule. 50%+1 tends to polarize everyone. the parties gravitate to the extremes. and sit there. forever. and only grudgingly cooperate with each other. now... suppose you needed 55% to pass laws. i'm hypothesizing you'd still have the two extreme parties. but you'd also have a new party with about 10% of the votes. this party would represent the currently disenfranchised middle. and it would have voting power out of proportion with its vote share. i explain. it could ally with the left to get one thing. and ally with the right to get another. alliances in the legislature would be a lot more fluid. currently, a right party member can't leave the right party. where's he going to go? the left party? ha ha. but if there were a middle party. one could take away the whips the party leaders use to keep their members voting as a block. individual lawmakers would have more latitude to represent the will of their constituents. ie the people. me. you.