Hi, De : David L Wetzell <[email protected]> >À : Raph Frank <[email protected]>; EM <[email protected]> >Envoyé le : Mardi 7 février 2012 13h20 >Objet : Re: [EM] Re Raph Frank wrt 3-seat LR Hare and RV for US Senators by >proxy. > dlw: I argue that the strength of the US presidency and regular presidential elections has the effect of building up our two-party system. > >This is why I take as a given that there tend to be 2 bigger major parties and >not as many serious candidates in "single-winner elections". This in turn >tends to >reduce the import of the diffs among the wide variety of single-winner >elections.
I think it works like this: President isn't responsible to or chosen by Congress -> There is not that much prize for having a majority of a house -> Weak party discipline (because of less focus on party: a candidate can get reelected even if his peers are unhappy) -> If you are a viable candidate, there is no need for you to carve out a new party. There is only room for two contenders per race (under FPP), and there are two parties that will take you as long as you can win for them. I think we could have three "parties" (if not a much greater variety of viewpoints) with the right method. I wouldn't care if they are actually parties or just a higher number of real choices, on average, in a race. Kevin
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