The initial anti-party stance of the Framers and the Constitution led to it. We do not have a parliamentary system, and when a new party gains a chance at real power it’s only because one of the old duopoly parties completely collapsed when faced with a major crisis.
I’d love to see some form of ranked-choice voting introduced across the board, but it’s not going to break the duopoly system. Where ranked-choice would make a difference in the short term is in the Democratic primaries. That’s something individual voters and participants in state and local politics can push for and effect. Perhaps you should channel your frustration there rather than resigning yourself to apathy.
This is patently untrue. Russia has several sham opposition parties in its nominally multi-party system, but none of their candidates have any hope (or really intent) of getting into to power and putting their polcies into effect. You could add ranked-choice to that autocratic mess (I hesitate to even call it an illiberal democracy) and it still wouldn’t make a difference.
Meanwhile, as others here have noted, the Dems do win elections and do put their policies into effect. They certainly aren’t as radically maximalist as their GOP counterparts in that regard, but it’s not all rearguard and defensive actions either. Even if it were, voting against a party that’s been taken over by fascists is worth the fight.
You won’t find many people here who don’t want to see all of these very problems addressed with extreme prejudice. Most of us would additionally point to the sclerotic complacency of the Dem party establishment as an issue. None of that makes the U.S. the political equivalent of Putin’s Russia.
Democracy – even our diluted version – is hard, which is precisely why voting is more than an empty ritual in the U.S.
There are signs of hope, with politicians like Ocasio-Cortez and Porter and Fetterman who understand that the GOP is always dealing in bad faith and are willing to fight back (without fighting fire with fire). The core question is whether time and demographics allow the more dynamic and younger progressives and fighting liberals to replace the current elderly Third Way leadership in time to address the threats that the republic and the economy and the planet faces. As with any such close and high-stakes race it is frustrating to watch and wait for the resolution.
