this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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The two-party system is not fake, it's a very real inevitability of FPtP voting.
For example: This 60-second animation shows how divided Congress has become over the last 60 years
Ignoring that also turns everything to the right (if not through actual voting, through lower turnout).
The two party system is inevitable under FPTP, true. But that does not mean change is impossible. The Tea Party managed to take over the Republican Party from the inside out.
We need a Guillotine Party to do the same thing to the Democratic Party.
I'm not seeking to defend FPTP, butf the two party system is inevitable, how come the UK has 393 political parties? It's true that one of two parties usually wins, but against that backdrop, the SNP was able to flourish in Scotland. In America you literally have Republican, Democratic parties and Independents. It is not inevitable but it certainly isn't a good system for the modern age.
Some parts of those governments do have proportional representation (like Scottish Parliment where the SNP has the most representation).
Other than that, I would guess there are a lot of small reasons... like differences in structure/operation/rules, that recall elections are a thing, larger gov't bodies, and election frequency. From the outside, I'd also guess that some of these parties do/have held power for a while until they mess things up and the voters switch it out.
Also a lot of the issue here is with US presidency, and the electoral college cements it even further. That is where it is the biggest inevitability as it's a big race that largely decides the next 4 years (also a partisan senate and house can enable or stall legislature, also how the right stacked the supreme court).
This is also a long-term imbalance (as shown by the video I linked) that intensifies over time. Other systems having different factors may be what prevented it from being a huge issue there, and it probably helps that they are older/more-stable (and less individualistic) countries.