• bradinutah@thelemmy.club
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      3 months ago

      This is the way. It is possible and unlikely to have a third party win under the right conditions, like with how the Republican Party became a national party after Lincoln was elected as a third party candidate. But ultimately there will always only be two parties with the outdated FPTP voting method. If only George Washington knew about and pushed for a better voting system than FPTP.

      • Norah - She/They
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        3 months ago

        I don’t think they really existed yet in his era. You’ve got to remember that Australia, a much younger country, invented the secret ballot. It was known as the “Australian Ballot” for a long time.

        • bradinutah@thelemmy.club
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          3 months ago

          Better systems existed but to your point, they were not well known.

          Leaders today, with access to Wikipedia if not researchers with Nobel prizes, do NOT have this excuse.

          • Norah - She/They
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            3 months ago

            Well yes, obviously. The issue with today is that the incumbency of the system makes it hard to change

        • pressanykeynow@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I don’t think they really existed yet in his era

          In 1294-1621 the election of the Pope used Approval voting. Venice also used it.

          Australia, a much younger country, invented the secret ballot

          The election of the Pope required secret ballot since 1621. And the concept existed since Ancient Greece and was used in elections and courts of Roman Republic.

      • barsquid@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        IMO, it’s not the full story to say the Republican party was a third party that year. The previous opposition to the Democrats had a rift and came apart. I think you are underselling what “the right conditions” are. This is more like a new party filling a void.

        That year the Democrats themselves (regressives as this was well before Southern Strategy) split into two. Running both a candidate for “states’ rights” style slavery and another for “fuck you, slavery everywhere” style slavery.

      • index@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        All it takes is a bunch of celebrities endorsing third parties and it’s done. At some point in your lifetime you will probably see a third party winning in the usa and it will simply happen with media and celebrities redirecting everyone vote. It happens all the time in other countries: people get tired of the local rulers and to keep protests and disorder at bay the government through mass media redirects attentions to a new and fresh party that already got bribed and corrupted by the ruling class.

    • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      In Australia government funding is distributed to political parties based on the number of first preference votes they get as well so even if your first choice doesn’t get in, you still helped them by putting them first.

    • index@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Math doesn’t decide what people vote, they are free to vote anything they want. Parties don’t automatically side with each others because another is most likely to win. This video is rooted in the mindset that politics and elections are a horse race between left and right.

      What’s preventing third parties from winning it’s not math but the propaganda and the power of the red and blue party. The ruling parties didn’t become this powerful mathematically. Over decades and centuries the ruling class paved their way and ensured their power with violence and repression.