Reply #2: Well, I used to feel that way, too.

[rogerashton]

I was living in Louisiana at the time, and Louisiana was a one-party Dixiecratic state. This was the 1960's, and "Rockefeller Republicanism" was still showing some signs of life. So I supported the Repubs, thinking that a two-party system would be better. Take a look. The "struggle of opposing forces" in Louisiana turned out to be Duke vs Edwards -- neonazi vs. crook! -- at one point.

I have been reading the recent biography of John Adams. No one was more committed to checks and balances than he, but at the same time he feared the two-party system, and although he was identified with the Federalists, refused to be part of the Federalist Party and ultimately was defeated because of "High Federalist" opposition. In general, the founding fathers all disapproved of party divisions in principle.

I think Kerry is trying to make the Democratic Party a center party. If he is successful it will be a dominant party, since it will be opposed by both right and left parties, probably Republican (I would prefer Libertarian!) and Green. To have a two-party division in this country means right vs. left, and I see that division as the source of many of our problems.