The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

[itfitzme]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

The solution is ranked choice voting like now being introduced in New York City.

Ranked-Choice Voting Gets A Prime-Time Shot Under New York City's Bright Lights

The method, in which voters are asked to rank candidates, has gained traction as a way to more accurately reflect the will of the majority. But detractors warn there are potential downsides, too.

www.npr.org

It creates an incentive to have a third party.

Idea: Ranked-Choice Voting

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Francis Fukuyama and Larry Diamond all think we need to use ranked-choice voting in elections.

www.politico.com

 

[citygator]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

THE USA is a Republic

Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Point?

Do you know the difference between a "democracy" and a Republic?

One of my undergraduate degrees is in History specializing in American Revolutionary Era. Won an award for my senior thesis. Democracy is an ideology. A Republic is a form of government. The question is … do you guys have any idea what is democracy and how it’s betrayed by trying to steal an election based on made up shit and false assertions? Probably not.

 

[LAUGHatLEFTISTS]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

The issue is the media and the Progressive movements collectivization of power.

As we all know, power corrupts, except for Progressives. For Progressives, the problem is not enough centralized power to "get things done".

So what has happened over the years is, they have centralized all power to the Federal government, specifically the Executive Branch, so that the Executive Branch now makes pretty much all our decisions, ranging from what doctor we see and what school teacher teaches our children. It was never designed this way, and is why half the country wants to secede every Presidential election cycle.

And with such centralized power at the Federal level, all of our other institutions, such as the media, has taken over and corrupted them as well.

Make as many parties as you want, the issues will continue.

Irony lost out here. Thread is on hyper-partisanship and how it’s affecting democracy and you pull out a progressive rant that is the kind of rhetoric that justified Jan 6 which is ultimately a tremor of an upcoming democracy quake.

January 6th? So that changed everything did it? An unarmed woman shot dead and a Viking running round, eh?

Though it is true they were there illegally in the Capital, it just illustrates the disconnect democrats like yourself have with the country. Lawlessness is dealt with using brutal force as the name of the police officer is not given to the press and the officer is not even investigated. Meanwhile as the rest of the nation burns to the ground and looted any such attempt to maintain order is met with accusations of racism and police brutality as the police officer is trashed with death threats flowing in from people like Lebron.

You're an idiot.

Cities aren’t burning to the ground. Especially the ones not shooting unarmed citizens. Jan 6 was a good example of the illiberal Republicans throwing democracy out and trying to circumvent it. If it weren’t for a tiny percent of Republican leaders following the law wed have been in shambles. A country with a coup.

We were just minutes away from the "INSURRECTIONIST" TAKING OVER THE USA, huh Buttercup?

View attachment 504780

Perfect! Scary insurrection.

 

[B. Kidd]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

You thought all of this time that you were living in a Democracy!

What a dotard!!

 

[citygator]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

You thought all of this time that you were living in a Democracy!

What a dotard!!

Are you ‘tarded? Do YOU know what democracy is?

 

[B. Kidd]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

You thought all of this time that you were living in a Democracy!

What a dotard!!

Are you ‘tarded? Do YOU know what democracy is?

Ben Franklin explained it all to you, hammertoe.

 

[InspectorDetector]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

You thought all of this time that you were living in a Democracy!

What a dotard!!

Are you ‘tarded? Do YOU know what democracy is?

Yeah - it's mob rule.

 

[XponentialChaos]

Ranked. Choice. Voting.

 

[Missouri_Mike]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

The issue is the media and the Progressive movements collectivization of power.

As we all know, power corrupts, except for Progressives. For Progressives, the problem is not enough centralized power to "get things done".

So what has happened over the years is, they have centralized all power to the Federal government, specifically the Executive Branch, so that the Executive Branch now makes pretty much all our decisions, ranging from what doctor we see and what school teacher teaches our children. It was never designed this way, and is why half the country wants to secede every Presidential election cycle.

And with such centralized power at the Federal level, all of our other institutions, such as the media, has taken over and corrupted them as well.

Make as many parties as you want, the issues will continue.

Irony lost out here. Thread is on hyper-partisanship and how it’s affecting democracy and you pull out a progressive rant that is the kind of rhetoric that justified Jan 6 which is ultimately a tremor of an upcoming democracy quake.

The democracy you think you want is never going to fly. The feds taking over elections? Fuck off. There’s a reason we live in states that aren’t lock step with your left wing shit holes and all we have to not get run over by California and New York is electoral votes and senate seats. It’s too late for a third party. It’s Americans versus democrats now and you made it that way. There will be no softening of views here with a third option.

 

[Missouri_Mike]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

The issue is the media and the Progressive movements collectivization of power.

As we all know, power corrupts, except for Progressives. For Progressives, the problem is not enough centralized power to "get things done".

So what has happened over the years is, they have centralized all power to the Federal government, specifically the Executive Branch, so that the Executive Branch now makes pretty much all our decisions, ranging from what doctor we see and what school teacher teaches our children. It was never designed this way, and is why half the country wants to secede every Presidential election cycle.

And with such centralized power at the Federal level, all of our other institutions, such as the media, has taken over and corrupted them as well.

Make as many parties as you want, the issues will continue.

Irony lost out here. Thread is on hyper-partisanship and how it’s affecting democracy and you pull out a progressive rant that is the kind of rhetoric that justified Jan 6 which is ultimately a tremor of an upcoming democracy quake.

January 6th? So that changed everything did it? An unarmed woman shot dead and a Viking running round, eh?

Though it is true they were there illegally in the Capital, it just illustrates the disconnect democrats like yourself have with the country. Lawlessness is dealt with using brutal force as the name of the police officer is not given to the press and the officer is not even investigated. Meanwhile as the rest of the nation burns to the ground and looted any such attempt to maintain order is met with accusations of racism and police brutality as the police officer is trashed with death threats flowing in from people like Lebron.

You're an idiot.

Cities aren’t burning to the ground. Especially the ones not shooting unarmed citizens. Jan 6 was a good example of the illiberal Republicans throwing democracy out and trying to circumvent it. If it weren’t for a tiny percent of Republican leaders following the law wed have been in shambles. A country with a coup.

We were just minutes away from the "INSURRECTIONIST" TAKING OVER THE USA, huh Buttercup?

View attachment 504780

It wasn’t the insurrectionists that were scary. You’re right. They were misfits. The problem was the scheming President using them to disrupt a lawful act of the constitution and the many Republican traitors that betrayed democracy by voting to disregard legally certified votes from Republican led states and Republican staffed election commissions. It was nearly a coup.

Kind of crazy how you think that was the case in 2020 but wasn’t in 2016 when democrats challenged the electoral votes. Take a look outside and as far as you can see fuck off to that point, then take a new look and fuck off to there. Rinse and repeat until you have fucked off around the world.

 

[Nostra]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

You thought all of this time that you were living in a Democracy!

What a dotard!!

Are you ‘tarded? Do YOU know what democracy is?

you shoulda got one of your undergraduate degrees in Representative Republic.

Maybe you wouldn’t be such a Dumbass.

 

[Nostra]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

You thought all of this time that you were living in a Democracy!

What a dotard!!

Are you ‘tarded? Do YOU know what democracy is?

Do you?

 

[Polishprince]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

Right now, maybe the two party system can be changed. The Never Trumpers should either form their own party or, alternatively, expel the Little Trumpsters from the GOP and let them form a new party.

 

[candycorn]

When you have two parties that cater to the extreme wings and a radically diverse nation....

The diverse nation suffers.

 

[$ecular#eckler]

 

[g5000]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

I've lived in countries which have more than two major parties, and believe you me, it isn't one bit better.

 

[justoffal]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

Political parties need to be done away with.
Just not exactly sure how it can be done.

Jo

 

[mudwhistle]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

Yeah....we need a one-party system like communism.

 

[mudwhistle]

Political parties need to be done away with.
Just not exactly sure how it can be done.

Jo

No....people that are over the age of 70 need to be retired.

 

[justoffal]

A well cited argument assessing the state of democracy in the US and the contributing factors which put it at risk from a declining two-party system.

In order for democracy to work, competing parties must accept that they can lose elections, and that it’s okay. But when partisans see their political opposition not just as the opposition, but as a genuine threat to the well-being of the nation, support for democratic norms fadesbecause “winning” becomes everything. Politics, in turn, collapses into an all-out war of “us against them,” a kind of “pernicious polarization” that appears over and over again in democratic collapses, and bears a striking similarity to what’s currently happening in the U.S.

What’s happening in the U.S. is distinct in four respects.

• First, the animosity that people feel toward opposing parties relative to their own (what’s known as affective polarization in political science) has grown considerably over the last four decades.
• Second, the change in how Americans feel about their party and other parties has been driven by a dramatic decrease in positive feelings toward the opposing party.
• Third, more so than in other countries, Americans report feeling isolated from their own party.
• Fourth, and perhaps most significant, in the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party.
  
  
  

  Why The Two-Party System Is Effing Up U.S. Democracy

  As the “Big Lie” of a stolen election continues to dominate the Republican Party, GOP-controlled states enact restrictive voting laws and pursue preposterous el…

  fivethirtyeight.com

The US has never had a democracy. That makes this article pretty goddamn stupid.
There has never been a single working democracy. The word itself is only good as an overarching concept not as a functional model.