To be fair, if the republicans were trying to add a very red 51st state there'd be outrage from the democrats. There are arguments for and against, but this is being done now as a power grab.

However, this is hardly the first low blow to be struck. Dirty tricks like this have been escalating fast - mostly from the right, from what I've seen - and in this arena if only one side is fighting dirty they're going to win. On top of that, the two-party system means neither side has a vested interest in getting a referee in to make things fair since that could open the door to other competitors.

This is just another sign that American politics could really do with a reboot, or at least (as we say over here) a boot up the arse.

Isn't it ironic that the greatest country of FREEDOM!!!!!! in the world essentially got a binary system? Either the GOP or the Dem (the rest are more of a protest parties). That's just a tiny bit better than the Chinese's one party system.

The relatively painless solution is to create conditions to make 3-4 mainstream parties a reality. With kingmakers in the mostly centrist positions adapting populists policies that fit the IRL problems of the day instead of ideological lines of the hardline left/right.

Simply put: coalition government.

to be fair, every president finds out change is a lot harder than they think it will be, given the stranglehold of a 2 party system.

here's a thought:
Rename the Green Party the "Conservative Party"
why?
#1 it's true, and it disarms the opposition while empowering a 3rd party, which is something that would be quite helpful to push change through.
#2 Politics is basically a war of semanitcs. Win the war on semantics, win the war.

Plenty o' folk will vote Conservative, just cause of the word.
Once there is a viable 3rd party, then change will be a reality.

No...I do not accept that voting for overtly racist bigot was an acceptable thing to do, no matter how disillusioned you are. I fully understand being totally pissed off at our system, I -am- one of those. But shitting in your bed is still an asinine thing to do, and I'll call a spade a fucking shovel every time.

I feel for liberals, we don't -have- a liberal party any more. We have a corporate right-wing party, and a corporate whack-job party. Those of us who understand how the world works have nowhere to go in the establishment parties. So leave the establishment parties. Throwing a tantrum and voting for one of them only proves they were right in thinking they could get away with it.

In truth, the establishment felt Trump was a lesser threat to the rich than Sanders was, that's why we had the choice we had forced upon us. Had more folks had the courage of their convictions, we -could- have seen the first third-party president, or at least enough support that there was some hope to see a change in one of the two parties. Now...now we'll see the same thing next time, and the time after that, and over and over.

Sanders was an outstanding chance to break the two-party system. No other candidate out there has the decades of reputation he has built, and there won't be another for at least 15-20 years. And power will continue to accrue to the corporate world for those two decades, it'll never be this possible again in my lifetime.

I find it... grotesque, that many of the "disenfranchised" men voted for Trump, even though he is only going to line the pockets of the few. That is what Trump does, he is only in this for himself and/or people like him; he is a cult of personality & a greedy businessman completely disconnected from reality. How he actually connected with such a vast ocean of morons is mind-blowing - 1) Fuck the two party system 2) Fuck the Electoral College.

I like that Chomsky points out that these people don't like being talked down to. But, if they would have opened their fucking ears - they would have heard Sanders talking about the MIDDLE CLASS, over and over and over again. Sanders actually wanted to do something for the majority ---- along with these IDIOTS --- that voted in Trump. Whom, yes, is going to get them temporary coal jobs and natural gas jobs...

Is that what they really want? Some shitty job that will ruin the environment so badly that their children will be living in a glass bubble with Amazon teleporting breakfast, lunch & dinner as they look out across black skies, thinking the images of the world they see on Google are a fantasy?

I dunno if it is right to blame liberals when a campaign uses fear and hate to the degree Trump did. The Dems failed to address it, but it was not they alone that set the fires, and it certainly wasn't the left fanning them. How do you address bigotry? Must we forever defend the foundations of equality from this...rot?

Trump demonstrated a complete disdain for the truth. The media failed to call him on it - fucking fallacy of the middle-ground bullshit. But then idk if that would have made a difference. Sad that really.

Two party system doesn't help. I think this increasing polarisation is partly due to that, partly due, ironically, to the internet. It was meant to connect us to everybody! In reality it only really connects us to the people we agree with. I also think it is interesting how different cities and the country votes. Its the same deal here in the UK. London is like a different country, culturally and politically, to the rest of England. I imagine the big cities in America have a similar disconnect from the country around them.

I hope this will be a lesson. But I already begin to doubt it. Clinton blaming her loss on the email revelations. Lady, maybe don't have so many skeletons hiding away eh? I know you didn't do anything illegal, but nor did your Husband and he still lost the White House because of it.

/rant

I think I'd like to change my vote to "no one - the election was fair". Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle merite.

It's nice that all of the 8 year old jokes are relevant again now that we have an orange president.

One side is always hurt. Another effect of having a two party system that fosters opposition and division to the point of hate. End it or Trump vs Clinton will happen again and again. Demand ranked choice voting, or plan on your side fearing 'the end of the world' every few years.

Perpetually being punched in the face is not a solution.

Buying into the false dilemma keeps us in a two party system.

Break my arm. Even the "worst case scenario", Trump winning due to a third party, would be good motivation for Democrats to support a new election system.

Neither party will allow a non "first past the post" system while they have no third party competition. The first and only time I've heard politicians consider adopting an alternative voting systems was when Ross Perot polled high enough to tank the Republican candidate if he ran.

I've a number of thoughts here...
1. There's never a perfect candidate so you're always picking the least sucky at some level.
2. I voted for Bernie in the primaries and he's been able to pull Hillary far to the left in her words. Assuming she gets elected, we'll see what her actions bring.
3. I live in a state that is safely Democrat, but with trump I don't want to take any chances and he should be overwhelmingly defeated so people like him knows those ideas are rejected and also the rest of the world knows we reject those ideas.
4. If the other candidate sucks more (IMHO) and gets elected that's tolerable, but I'm pretty fearful of what would happen if trump is elected. Or in other words, he's a special case that isn't just the other person is suckier.
5. I agree with your thought in general, but picking alternative party candidates is the equivalent of voting for the person that's least like what you prefer when you have a two dominant party system. If the U.S. had say 6 or 7 parties, I think we'd be better off.

The president also has the power to sink us if his party is in control of congress and goes along with any stupid thing he does, and so does the Supreme Court (which will essentially belong to whoever is the next president).
If Clinton only worked within a broken system, she might be forgiven, but she doesn't. This latest DNC collusion fiasco is just the latest shining example of how she and her team flagrantly disregards the rules if they aren't convenient for her. She just gave Shultz a nice position in her campaign and you can bet she'll have a cabinet position if Clinton wins for blatantly rigging the primary for her, which is not the action of someone who values ethics.
Yes, the system needs to be reformed, but by someone that believes that rules and laws apply to everyone including them, not someone who's an expert at slipping through loopholes and skirting the rules if not breaking them outright then lying about it....which is either major party candidate.
IMO, Clinton is the fairly competent but corrupt one, Trump is fairly incompetent and corrupt and pathological and racist and narcissistic and just a terrible human being. I'm not certain which is more dangerous, because I can't tell what either of them will actually do in any situation beyond whatever appears to benefit them most at the time.

I, for one, am glad we don't have a two party system and I have other choices. I will only vote for someone I want to be president, and refuse to cast a vote against someone. That's what has us in this mess.

And support the two party system...

No thanks.

Ending the two party system is far more important.

This is why we are it the predicament we are in today.

If people keep voting for someone who does not share their values just to stop someone who is a bit worse from getting elected this cycle will continue forever. "Spoilers" and "lesser of two evils" are tactics that keep people voting against their best interests.

If you vote for Hillary or Trump just because you think the other is worse, you are voting for a local maximum, and will be stuck with the rigged two party system forever.

Voting your conscience and losing to Trump is far better!!! Eventually a third party can form and whittle away at the two sided party. They can change their positions to stay in power or die off. Either way it gives us the ability to choose what topics being addressed, unlike the current system where year after year we are pitted against each other on the same topics which those in control have little interest in. Wallmart, Comcast et all have little interest in abortion gun control, or gay rights.

BREAK the fucking system. Do not vote for her to prevent Trump. It insures the continuation of the current system. Your voice will forever be inconsequential.

"Voting for the lesser of two evils only paves the way for the greater."

Just to play devils advocate, he has a right to vote... in the general election.

If you want to participate in a parties nomination process, it seems reasonable that you're a member of that party.

Of course, this is all ignoring how completely fucked the two party system (and by extension the entire democratic process) is in the US.

Unfortunately the democratic party also has a vested interest in keeping the two-party system, so I doubt they'll be getting rid of anything significant. The party itself has demonstrated this by its treatment of candidates like Lessig and Sanders.

The pendulum will always swing away from the governing party eventually, and that means it will always swing back to the republicans. The best you can hope for is that it would be a significantly changed republican party, as has happened in the past while (albeit in the 'wrong' direction, from my point of view).