58% of americans favor creation of third party

[Badger]

Can't we just switch to Proportional representation?  It would eliminate this problem entirely.

Absolutely not.

You're approaching some sort of cliche reactionary status. I can't think of any legitimate reasons why someone would oppose proportional representation unless it's a purely selfish "I wouldn't like the results of it" reason.

Personally I have some concerns about the US turning out like Israel where umpteen different parties enter and the threshhold for representation is so low (5% IIRC) that major parties can rarely form a coalition on their own without reaching out to the extreme fringe (usually religious oriented) parties and grant them major concessions to form a deal for governance.

Of course that scenario does have somewhat less threat in this country where politically active religious extremists already have effective control over one of the two major parties....

[Badger]

Of course that scenario does have somewhat less threat in this country where politically active religious extremists already have effective control over one of the two major parties....

Please tell me you're joking? If not that is absolutely hyperbolic nonsense.

Sure, States. The religious right has almost NO influence whatsoever on the GOP's hard-line social conservatism.

Of course coming from someone for whom "old times there are not forgotten"--ever--and who cites "50k years of human nature" as a reason for kids to languish in orphanages rather than the horror of their being adopted by gays, well, "social conservativism" is rather relative, no?

[Badger]

Of course that scenario does have somewhat less threat in this country where politically active religious extremists already have effective control over one of the two major parties....

Please tell me you're joking? If not that is absolutely hyperbolic nonsense.

Sure, States. The religious right has almost NO influence whatsoever on the GOP's hard-line social conservatism.

To call them "extremists" is really inane hackery. Westboro Baptist Church is extreme, mainline Protestantism and Evangelicals aren't really extreme. Very very very few of the Christians involved in politics at the moment are pushing for any sort of theocracy that you'd imagine in your head. And don't use me as any sort of example, I'm outside the scope of the normal political spectrum, just like most of the leftists here are.

Being pro-life, pro-family and other social conservative positions are not "extreme" by most any standard in this country.

I'm well aware that mainline Christian Churches aren't 'extremist", States. I actually belong to one.

If Westboro Baptist is even close to your threshold for religious extremism, that rather proves my point, game, set and match.