you’d have to get past the ingrained mindset people in America have of a third party never winning
It’s not just a mindset, Game Theory shows that when you have First Past The Post voting and a 2-party duopoly, a third party just siphons votes from the establishment party that is closest to their platform. That results in the other major party effectively gaining votes.
Getting rid of FPTP would fix this. But, FPTP is what guarantees a D or an R will win. The only way to change the voting system is to have the lawmakers change it, but the lawmakers are the Ds and Rs that FPTP guarantees will win. So, they’d have to vote for a system that will cause them to lose elections.
There may be individual lawmakers who are honest and would want a better electoral system. But, they’d have to go up against their entire party apparatus which exists to block anything that is bad for the party.
It’s not just a mindset, Game Theory shows that when you have First Past The Post voting and a 2-party duopoly, a third party just siphons votes from the establishment party that is closest to their platform. That results in the other major party effectively gaining votes.
Getting rid of FPTP would fix this. But, FPTP is what guarantees a D or an R will win. The only way to change the voting system is to have the lawmakers change it, but the lawmakers are the Ds and Rs that FPTP guarantees will win. So, they’d have to vote for a system that will cause them to lose elections.
There may be individual lawmakers who are honest and would want a better electoral system. But, they’d have to go up against their entire party apparatus which exists to block anything that is bad for the party.