It’s not that I disagree with Charles Blow because I don’t. But I am getting worried about the smug complacency on the left that we have won the argument and can rely on demographics to sustain our victory. In a system with proportional representation, that would be true. But we have only one alternative to the Democrats, and that is the Republicans. No, I don’t think third parties are viable, and they never will be in this country. To argue that the Republicans will never be back is to argue that America has become the way Mexico used to be, with elections that only one party ever wins. Even if this were true, it would represent a failure of our political system and not some victory for the left.
For evidence that we are not Mexico, look at the polls. They show an incredibly unpopular Republican Party with unbelievably unpopular leaders, and they show this party picking up seats in Congress. What does that tell you? In the long term, the GOP is going to need to change to become a majority party again. But, in a two-party system, you can’t afford to have one party that no one can trust with power. It’s a problem.
