Breaking the duopoly
How does it feel, as Americans, to know that you have one more political candidate to choose from than the Soviet Union? You've only got two choices, Democrat and Republican (pretty much left-leaning centrist vs. right-leaning centrist). It sounds very grim when some people call it a 'duopoly' (even grimmer when they call it a two-party dictatorship).
The bi-partisan Commision on Presidential Debates essentially excludes third parties from national debates by requiring candidates to meet very high standards (made even tougher because Perot kept crashing the party) and strict ballot access laws stagnates the growth of any third party and acts as a roadblock to the debates for third parties.
tldr;
The American system is fucked because it doesn't allow for people
outside the traditional political box to make a difference.
edit: forgot to even mention the effect of a winner-takes-all voting system on third parties (hint: it's bad), as opposed to proportional voting.
Last edited by Ele; Jan 21, 2015 at 05:36 AM.