4 ms·

It's certainly true that FPTP doesn't help, but I wouldn't single it out as the primary cause. 70 years ago we still had FPTP and things were not nearly as bad

by koube 9y ago

It's certainly true that FPTP doesn't help, but I wouldn't single it out as the primary cause. 70 years ago we still had FPTP and things were not nearly as bad as now, and at that point we had been using FPTP for more than 150 years. http://www.mamartino.com/projects/rise_of_partisanship/ http://www.mamartino.com/projects/rise_of_partisanship/

indubitable 9y ago
One thing to keep in mind is population is a factor. Literally every single member of the House of Representatives is either a Democrat or a Republican. In the Senate there are 2 exceptions, Bernie Sanders and Angus King. The interesting thing is that Sanders and King represent Vermont and Maine respectively. Vermont has a population of 0.6million. Maine has a population of 1.3 million. They're the 2nd and 9th least populated states in the country. First past the post isn't awful with smaller populations. With a small population it's possible for people to get their message out without the resources of an enormous party, and similarly not get drowned out by the resources of said parties when running against them. But as population sizes increase the resources of parties become critical. And as voters become more and more disconnected from their representatives, the value of having a symbol by your name becomes much more important than what you actually believe, and in some cases the former actually ends up redefining the latter. In any case the fact that nearly everybody at most all levels is a republican or democrat even though fewer people than ever actually identify as republican or democrat, is something that I would call very strong evidence of a systemic problem in our electoral system.
- koube 9y ago
  I'm not an expert on this but from a quick google it appears ME and VT both have above average polarizations: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/05/how-polarized-your-state/ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/05/how-polarized-...
macawfish 9y ago
I don't know if it's "the primary cause", but it sure one of the root causes. You can't expect a game of monopoly to turn out like apples to apples. They're different games.

by koube 9y ago

indubitable 9y ago

One thing to keep in mind is population is a factor. Literally every single member of the House of Representatives is either a Democrat or a Republican. In the Senate there are 2 exceptions, Bernie Sanders and Angus King. The interesting thing is that Sanders and King represent Vermont and Maine respectively. Vermont has a population of 0.6million. Maine has a population of 1.3 million. They're the 2nd and 9th least populated states in the country. First past the post isn't awful with smaller populations. With a small population it's possible for people to get their message out without the resources of an enormous party, and similarly not get drowned out by the resources of said parties when running against them. But as population sizes increase the resources of parties become critical. And as voters become more and more disconnected from their representatives, the value of having a symbol by your name becomes much more important than what you actually believe, and in some cases the former actually ends up redefining the latter. In any case the fact that nearly everybody at most all levels is a republican or democrat even though fewer people than ever actually identify as republican or democrat, is something that I would call very strong evidence of a systemic problem in our electoral system.

koube 9y ago
I'm not an expert on this but from a quick google it appears ME and VT both have above average polarizations: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/05/how-polarized-your-state/ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/05/how-polarized-...

macawfish 9y ago

I don't know if it's "the primary cause", but it sure one of the root causes. You can't expect a game of monopoly to turn out like apples to apples. They're different games.