Are Political Parties Doing Us More Harm Than Good?
I’ve been making the case lately that the Republican Party is in decline, and needs to reinvent itself.
But perhaps something even more radical is needed.
For when we look at the current state of our two-party system in the US, nothing about it makes any sense.
Here in Seattle, where I live, our mayor has announced that the current term will be her last, and so we have a whole host of new faces appearing in our primary, the results of which will determine the two candidates who will be competing for the mayoral seat in the fall.
But neither of them will be a Republican.
This is because our parties have largely divvied up our national electorate along the urban/rural divide, which means that a Republican mayor in one our big cities is about as likely as a snowball fight in Florida on the Fourth of July.
Here in the state of Washington, starting in 2008, we have what are known as Top 2 primaries, meaning that the two candidates receiving the most votes in a primary move on to the general election — no matter what their party affiliation (or lack thereof).
This innovative approach to our elections was, of course, not advanced by either of our parties, but was brought forward and made into law through our…
