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“ For better or worse, we have a two-party system. It would take transformational election reform and likely several constitutional amendments to alter the realities of our system. And, as I've studied single-party, two-party, and multi-party systems, I've yet to find a convincing demonstration that the monumental effort required to alter our current system would be beneficial in any meaningful way. Both two-party and multi-party systems seem equally capable of dysfunction, and the health of the government seems mostly predicated on the health of the political culture, regardless of its party system.”

Exactly. Too many people fall for the “grass is greener in Europe” phenomenon and assume that a multiparty system would immediately cure all our political ills. When in reality our ills stem more from an ill political culture, than from our two-party system.

“ A protest vote can be valuable if, after all we can do, a party still chooses a poor path. ”

True. I’ll happily vote third party again if faced with DeSantis v Kamala in 24.

I have two quibbles. One, I could be wrong but I think the Bernie bros are farther left than many European social democrats so I’m not sure that’s the right term. Plus, the left is at least as much hijacked by identity politics as it is by Marxism.

Second quibble: you don’t need the parenthetical at the end. It’s a little off-putting to the reader. You’ve made your point to us well and convincingly, but it feels a bit like you’re rubbing our noses in it to add the parenthetical. That’s the kind of thing I struggle with in my own writing, so it jumped out at me.

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