@AlluraLibrarian asks a thoughtful question in response to a discussion of a crisis of legitimacy (when people feel the government doesn't govern on their behalf).
People experiencing this often wish to entirely overhaul the government.
💠The U.S. has swung far to the right since the 1970s;
💠Far left views are in the minority; and
💠We have a two-party system—and that's unlikely to change without a major overhaul of the Constitution (which is so difficult as to be almost impossible).
In non-presidential parliamentary systems, minority views can hold more sway in the government.
We’ve had a two-party system since the time of George Washington (except for a stint after the collapse of the Federalists and before the birth of the GOP, when we effectively had a single party.)
Once they arose (and many political scientists will tell you they’re not bad things) the nature of our Constitution dictated a two-party system.
Thus dividing votes for POTUS over three parties means the House selects the president. . .
Frustration #2: If you hold minority views, it’s hard to see your ideas implemented. . .
(Yes, we still have a liberal democracy. The courts are often NOT doing Trump’s bidding, and the midterm elections did not go Trump’s way.)
Option 1: Implement a revolution by forcing a rapid change. Change doesn’t naturally happen quickly, so some sort of force (not necessarily violence) is needed.
Rapid change can be destabilizing. . .
Revolutionaries are often destructive with the belief that something better will arise from the ashes.
Destroying what is in place before something new can be built can create a void that allows for power grabs.
This is also not a good idea. Because of the nature of democracy, it’s hard to imagine implementing minority views without resorting to some cheating.
Minority rule is what we’re experiencing now. . .
This came about through voter suppression, gerrymandering, playing hardball, exploiting advantages, etc.
Option 3 means moving the center left.
This is slow, grinding work. How do you do it? Organize, educate, find ways to persuade people. Take a long view.
Harvard Prof. Levitsky argues that the right is implementing desperate measures BECAUSE the GOP demographics are shrinking.
This means we should see leftward shift.
It took me a long time to persuade him otherwise. I talked about our independent judiciary, free press, etc. He talked about very real problems.
Doing this now, however, helps Putin’s active measures for undermining liberal democracy.
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I'll add some of the comments to the thread. . .
if the"wrong" brand is popular, it could be because the better brand has a marketing problem.
Their concerns are not actually economic.