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Duopoly? To paraphrase the late Gore Vidal, "We have one political party, the property party, with two wings." Here's the full quote: “There is only one part
by pravda 8y ago
Duopoly?
To paraphrase the late Gore Vidal, "We have one political party, the property party, with two wings."
Here's the full quote:
“There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party … and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt — until recently … and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties.”
― Gore Vidal
- aaron_m04 8y agoYou could replace "property" with some other totally common sense and reasonable position and lo and behold, both parties agree with it! Where is the problem here?
- mattnewton 8y agoThis kind of thinking trivializes real progressive policies that “help the poor, the black, and the anti-imperialist” as “small adjustments”, and not the matter of life or death as things like torte law, affordable healthcare, unions, and public infrastructure can be. I hope there is more to that in the full context. Worse, in this context it seems to suggest that you should bargain with neither side and instead seek some new power dynamic. That would be a recipe for disappointment, especially when I think an engaged citizenry can make real (albeit slow) progress by bargaining with the major political parties.
- tacostakohashi 8y agoHotelling's law is at work here. Changing the voting system doesn't actually solve that, either.