<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=545c8565c38e" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I'd say he's got a point. Thoughts?
I agree with this. The more varied parties are allowed to have a major role in elections the more democracy thrives.
Who cares about doing something more democratically if it results in bad governance? We've got a quasi third party today, one that has the support of at least 10-15% of the populace, which is typical of any third party. Is America better off now that they're around?
Yes, a middle party, with 15% of the seats in Congress, could govern by coalition with whichever of the two major parties is most sane on a particular issue. We would get the best of both worlds, IMO.
In a country this large and diverse, regional, industrial, religious and demograpic biases will affect governance and legislation drastically enough without additional factions filibustering and drafting extra bills.
The major parties tend to be the moderate parties. 3rd parties tend to be far left or far right, more often than not - that's why they have less support.
I think having five or six parties that would all be allowed equal access to ballots, elections, Federal funding, etc. would be better governance.