I agree that we now have a problem, particularly with the republican party going haywire, but let's not pretend that our two party system hasn't been extremely

I agree that we now have a problem, particularly with the republican party going haywire, but let's not pretend that our two party system hasn't been extremely beneficial to us up until now. Historically for game theoretic reasons the parties have been pretty moderate: if one went off the deep end, centrists would flock to the other party. Having two large, stable, and moderate parties over the years has kept our government from rocking back and forth in extremism and paralysis. Witness Italy, with many dynamically changing parties and which can't keep a stable government longer than about 9 months on average. This stability is one of (several) factors which has made the US a safe haven for finance, etc. and which has benefitted us greatly on the world stage over the last century. So the issue is how to give other parties a seat at the table, and an opportunity to be heard and responded to, without destroying the very stability that has helped us for so long.