"We allow ourselves only 2 major political parties-1 of them is completely out of its fcking mind"

[kpete]

CRAZY LAND
By Charles P. Pierce

.............................



The Republican party of the state of Texas, a state that went for Mitt Romney by over two million votes, would like to do away with the Federal Reserve, and any Supreme Court jurisdiction in any case involving the Bill Of Rights. And, yes, there's more.

Things that the Texas Republicans support: Withdrawal from the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and the World Bank; "Traditional methods of discipline, including corporal punishment;" "Reducing taxpayer funding to all levels of education institutions," Returning to "the time-tested precious metal standard for the United States dollar."

The Republican Party of the state of Texas, a state in which north of 45 percent of the voters identify as Republicans, would like to bring back spanking.

It seems almost pointless to mention this but there is simply no state Democratic party in any of the 50 states that is so clearly, obviously demented. This is the Republican Party. Yuval Levin and Ramesh Ponnuru are not. In fact, I think all those bold conservative thinkers of whom the New York Times thinks so much should bring their Big Ideas down to the next Texas state Republican convention and see how far they get. John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell, and especially obvious anagram Reince Priebus, who nominally presides over Bedlam, need to be asked every day which parts of the Texas Republican platform they support and which parts they don't. They don't get to use the crazies to get elected and then hide behind fake Washington politesse when the howls from the hinterlands get too loud. We allow ourselves only two major political parties. One of them is completely out of its fcking mind. This is a national problem.

The Rest:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Crazy_In_Texas

[The Magistrate]

1. Cold Truth, Ma'am

[el_bryanto]

2. This is a problem - but I don't know how to solve it.

The two national parties are so well entrenched and well financed they can generally push aside any third party movement above a local level.

Bryant

[DetlefK]

6. For starters: abolish the electoral college.

1. Switch all party-races from winner-take-all to parity.
2. Allow for a party to gain a seat in the house if they win enough votes on a national level but fail to win in a district.

Imagine a party that gains 10% in the national vote and is entitled to seats in the House.

Imagine a House like this:
40% Democrats
40% Republicans
10% liberals
10% Tea Party

The Tea Party would have a harder time bossing the GOP around, because the GOP could dump the fringe and go back to competing with the Democrats for mainstream-voters.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. And the other one compromises with the crazies.

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. +1.

[99Forever]

18. I'd say capitulates to, not compromises with.

Over and over and over and over.

[CanSocDem]

4. ...and the other is only mildly delusional. (eom)

[liberal N proud]

5. It's not that we allow ourselves only 2 parties but those 2 parties control everything

The parties will prevent any other organizations from gaining enough power to make a difference.

That is the cold reality.

[rhett o rick]

7. It's very short sighted and naive to applaud the death of the Republican Party.

We need to viable parties for our Democracy to work. Those that are happy to see the R Party die seem to think that the conservative ideologues die with the party. Wrong. They simply start calling themselves Democrats. The influx of conservatives into the Democratic Party has disenfranchised the Progressive Wing of the Party. We now essentially have a one party system in which any one with a brain has to vote for whoever the Democrats run. Having a viable Conservative Republican Party would neutralize the wacko Right Wing Nuts and allow the Progressive to have a voice in the Democratic Party.

[blkmusclmachine]

8. The GOP is stone cold f/cking NUTS, and the DEMS are absolutely COMPLICIT

Vive la difference!

[Fred Sanders]

10. The complicity is with the corporate media, you see it every day.

[littlemissmartypants]

9. Kicking. Thank you. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. But..but..we must reach out and compromise with the nuts and prove we're "not as bad".

aka "Politics as usual".

[bemildred]

12. "Calhoun conservatives". I like it.

That is what they are.

[MisterP]

14. Latin America had this problem too: they ended it by not voting for those parties any more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger's_law#Counterexamples

[jeff47]

15. There's a reason other democracies didn't follow our model.

The structure of our government makes a two party system more-or-less inevitable. There's no benefit for being a minor party, as opposed to being the _____ wing of a major party.

[ZombieHorde]

16. The only reason I vote for Dems

is to help keep the Reps out of office.

[Warren Stupidity]

17. The other party is moving crazy-ward in an effort to capture part of the crazy vote.