Reply #168: The number of parties is not going to change. The platforms and makeup of the parties can very well

[BzaDem]

change.

For example, through the primary process, the Democratic party can move further to the left. The degree depends on the desire of a majority of it's members that it does so.

But a third party is not going to take over or win anything meaningful. It is not even going to pressure the Demcratic party to move to the left. In fact, the more votes Democrats lose to the left, the more rightward they move, to seek the persuadable voters in the middle. (They even get twice the benefit from doing so -- an R to a D changes the margin twice as much as a no-vote to a D.)

The one way to change our politics is to do it through one of the two parties. If you believe that this is impossible, then change is impossible.