The founders didn’t create a two party system though. They created a living system that could grow and adapt but instead has been consistently rat-fucked by nefarious actors for decades now.

There have been lots of additional parties (federalist, whigs, even anti-masons!) plus independents over history.

Political parties are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, which predates the party system. The two-party system is based on laws, party rules, and custom.

Think “citizens united v. FEC” not citizens.

The blows to American Democracy proper are coming from corrupt Supreme Court judges right now, not conversations back in the 1700s.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The fucked up supreme court is created by an unbalanced 2 party system, and the 2 party system is a result of first past the post.
That there are more parties is irrelevant, because first past the post keep them out of real influence, as votes for them are wasted, because that's the result of first past the post, as can be seen in UK too.
Democratic countries that don't use first past the post generally have many parties, and much better representation of what the population actually wants.
There's a saying that the difference between USA and China is just 1 party, unless you understand what that means, you simply don't get the main flaw of US democracy.

[–] Beetschnapps@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Eh. I agree that first past the post is a problem and there are better alternatives like ranked choice that should be adopted. It’s not the flaw that we disagree on.

The Supreme Court was created by congress and via arbitrary bullshit from… the Supreme Court.

The federal court system and the judicial authority to interpret the Constitution received little attention in the debates over the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. The power of judicial review, in fact, is nowhere mentioned in it.

It’s dishonest to claim others don’t get the main flaw of US democracy while you arbitrarily conflate the constitution with Marbury v. Madison, mistake discussions in the 1700s for decades of lobbying and generally put forth an argument that everything was fucked from the get go. It ignores the role of current nefarious actors and gives a pass to what is happening right now.