a system. Is it even codified by statute??? I only ever hear this parliamentary government = multi-party system thing from Americans, and its just not true lol. Or at least: there are plenty of examples of presidential republics (or, in the case of Israel, semi-presidential republics) with a multi-party system/culture... and parliamentary systems that converge around a 2 party majority (eg. as you mention, Canada) or even 1 party (eg. Assads Baath party in Syria). And besides, US Congress is empowered enough that a fair number of Congressional functions mimic that of a parliament anyway (eg. parallels between a non-confidence vote and impeachment). Probably the most notable distinction at first-glance is that a cabinet is more accountable to and often interwoven with the legislative branch in most parliamentary systems, whereas in the US cabinet posts are usually filled by external candidates and the Pres has more control.

Tbh it seems the barriers to a flourishing multi-party system/culture in the US are things like ballot access, state political dynamics, legitimacy in the media, voter apathy etc. not that multiple-parties don't exist (eg. Green party). And like you said, third party candidates occasionally get a notable (albeit small) proportion of votes in general elections anyway. I even posed the question here before of why Sanders/a democratic socialist would choose to partner with the Dems when the Greens have ubiquitous ballot access in the US and are much more aligned with his politics. lol. (I have my theory about why but I'm trying to be more civil in our little okp political discussions).

Either way, I find multi-party electoral politics over-rated personally lol. Not just due to some of the risks you excellently pointed out... but for the simple fact that in most countries focus tends to converge around 2-3 parties at most anyway.

Nigeria had an election earlier this year and I was (somewhat unwillingly) subjected to its round-the-clock coverage on foreign tv. It was so tedious watching them tab through <100 vote results for all these non-factor parties when everybody knew the real contest was between the PDP and the APC.

Americans aint bout that multi-party life lol.

>
>the 2 party system...under our current/historical
>conditions...actually saves us from being some minority-party
>run authoritarian state like saddam husseins iraq or something
>like that.
>