Why is the elected president always either a Republican or a Democrat

1. 60

   Michelle Taylorposted 11 years ago

   Why is the elected president always either a Republican or a Democrat
   
   There are many other political parties, so why do these two get all of the attention?  There are more than two names on the ballot but the media only really highlights the players for the Republican and Democratic bid.  Would it ever be possible for an elected president to not hail from one of those parties?

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2. 80

   nanderson500posted 11 years ago

   Unfortunately no. The two major parties have gamed the system so only they can win. Also, we have a "first past the post" electoral system, instead of a proportional representation system. The FPTP system makes it natural for there to be fewer major parties.

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3. 61

   Wesley Meachamposted 11 years ago

   I theory it is possible. However it would take a massive concerted effort on the part of many individuals to draw votes away from the two dominant parties toward one or two of the smaller ones.
   
   Part of the problem is that many people actually prefer one of the smaller party. But they vote for the larger party because they feel that if they "vote their concsience" then they are really throwing their vote away. So even though their ideology matches a smaller party they wont vote for them simply because they are a smaller party.
   
   The logic there is a bit fuzzy when you think about it. If just half of the republicans who would prefer the libritarian party voted for the libritarian party then the republican party would be much smaller. The libritarian party would grow and others would eventually notice. But they wont do this because they feel that the same thing isn't going to happen in the democratic party. For many of these people it is more important to vote against the ideas that they absolutely don't want than it is to vote for the ideas that they want.
   
   I agree with you that some of the smaller parties on both sides of the political spectrum have better ideas than the goons at the top. However in practical terms this doesn't really matter.
   
   So in theory yes but in reality probably not.

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4. 53

   Joe Cookposted 11 years ago

   It's an unfortunate system hey?  A faint whisper of participatory democracy but little more...What can we do to widen, enrich and make the system more inclusive?  I'm not sure myself, but I believe change is, in theory, possible.

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