I don’t know how you can say this while looking at the US. Sure, other systems allow for fringe hard-core extremist parties like, say, NZ First, but the US shows that if the extremist faction isn’t allowed its 10% to 20% of the vote, the extremist faction then promptly takes over the main-stream party closest to its ideology. I.E. the Alt-Right takes over the Republican Party in the US.
FPTP doesn’t seem to have any inbuilt immunity to extremism, as far as I can see living in Trumpland.
Theoretically under potential proportional representation, a MAGA party under Trump with the size of his base would be a deciding vote in government - even should he fail to form a coalition government, as what is currently represented as democrats and republicans would be split into several smaller parties. In current FPTP - provided Harris wins - Trump is kept out of government.
You’re completely right though that Trump has managed to radicalise one of the two major parties - and a large part of the population. The overarching voting system can’t prevent the spread of ideology - far right has been making gains all over the world, FPTP or not.
For the record, I don’t think FPTP is a good system, I was only discussing the merits of third party voting and it’s pointlessness in a system explicitly designed to shut them out.
I don’t know how you can say this while looking at the US. Sure, other systems allow for fringe hard-core extremist parties like, say, NZ First, but the US shows that if the extremist faction isn’t allowed its 10% to 20% of the vote, the extremist faction then promptly takes over the main-stream party closest to its ideology. I.E. the Alt-Right takes over the Republican Party in the US.
FPTP doesn’t seem to have any inbuilt immunity to extremism, as far as I can see living in Trumpland.
Theoretically under potential proportional representation, a MAGA party under Trump with the size of his base would be a deciding vote in government - even should he fail to form a coalition government, as what is currently represented as democrats and republicans would be split into several smaller parties. In current FPTP - provided Harris wins - Trump is kept out of government.
You’re completely right though that Trump has managed to radicalise one of the two major parties - and a large part of the population. The overarching voting system can’t prevent the spread of ideology - far right has been making gains all over the world, FPTP or not.
For the record, I don’t think FPTP is a good system, I was only discussing the merits of third party voting and it’s pointlessness in a system explicitly designed to shut them out.