Political Musings (I want your two cents!)

So. I've been thinking (uh oh) about politics, and I have some questions/musings for Americans on my f-list about extremism in politics.

Someone said to me today that they thought having two parties in America made things extreme. That you were left wing or right wing. Someone else answered that this wasn't set in law, that this was just the nature of the game. The only way to win an election was to have two parties.

THIS IS NOT TRUE.
Enter Canada, who has three main parties;

Conservatives (right wing)
Liberals (middle to left)
New Democratic Party (NDP) (left)

But then there's ALSO the Bloc Quebequois (a seperatist party for the province of Quebec)
The Green Party (environment)
The Independants (candidates who run for whatever the fuck they feel like)
The Rhinoceros Party ("a promise to keep none of our promises" satire party who yes, you can actually vote for and who are about cutting bullshit in politics.)
The Marijuana Party (juuuuuuuuuuust what it sounds like)
The Communist Party (Marxist communists, not Stalinist, it's different)
The Yogic Flyers (believe Yoga is the answer, should be mandatory for all and that the way to the answer for the nation is through meditation.)

No, I'm not kidding about ANY of the above. Wikipedia them, they're up there.

Needless to say, it's usually a race between the Liberals and the Conservatives. Right now, the Conservatives are in power with a minority government, which means that all their bids to cut funding to healthcare and de-legalize gay marriage are being STOPPED by the combined efforts of the NDP and the Liberals (GOOOOOOOO NDP WOOHWOOHWOOH)

And we're not polarized at all. Aside from being a generally left-leaning nation. But we, unlike the states, have no major religious background so there really aren't those undercurrents in the voting population. We don't teach abstinence in schools, we're 'CONDOMS ALL THE WAY, BAYBEE' that sort of thing.



HOWEVER, historically speaking, the most extreme political parties have risen as Fascist takeovers of multi-tier systems. They will get the largest number of votes and take ABSOLUTE POWER!!!!!

This strikes me as... confusing. And bemusing. But mostly I'm just telling everyone about the Marijuana Party, the Parti Rinoceros and the Yogic Flyers. :D