America's Two Missing Major Parties

[progressive85]

The first is the Orange Party.  It would advocate tradition, patriotism, and small town values.  It would strongly support coal jobs and manufacturing jobs.  It would oppose allowing any more immigrants into the country.  At the same time, it would propose a full commitment to the social safety net with a Christian message in favor of "trickle up economics" - give to the poor and everyone will benefit.

The second party would be the Purple Party, a socially moderate or liberal, business-oriented party that would appeal to rich suburban voters outside major cities.  This kind of party would want policies that provide stability for the markets, not overly tax high income earners, and support the growth of business.  It would stay away from controversial social issues.

The Democratic Party would move further left and into a democratic socialist party with a base of ethnic minorities, while the Republicans would move further right and appeal to hardcore movement conservatives.

The inclusion of two new parties could reduce the two-party partisanship by opening up the spectrum and giving people a chance to go in four different ways.

[KingSweden]

American politics would make more sense if rather than including those parties you just replaced the current two with them.

[twenty42]

If you are really advocating a four-party system, I hope you're prepared to start seeing presidential candidates getting elected with 30-35% of the NPV.

[Progressive Pessimist]

If you are really advocating a four-party system, I hope you're prepared to start seeing presidential candidates getting elected with 30-35% of the NPV.

As long as the victorious candidate is winning a plurality, it is still a more deserved mandate than Trump's result.

[DrScholl]

In that situation there would have to be coalitions formed to govern. Italy didn't have a government for months after it's election because it was so hard to form a coalition.

On the flip side you'd probably just end up with election spoilers in many districts and states throwing the elections to a more hardcore candidate. The hypothetical Republican Party in this post could win seats with 35-40% of the vote if the votes of liberals and moderates were divided up enough.