My only comment is that we have done rather well with the two party system, I fear this might result in a multiplicity of parties.

Warrington, with your "done well", I can't tell if that's sarcasm.

Maybe it would result in a multiplicity of parties, but even that would be better than the system we have now. My first choice is zero parties, my second choice would be to have about 10 strong parties, all across the spectrum, so the DINOs and RINOs end up having a real party of their own, where their view points mostly fit. However, no one is going to fit perfectly with any party, so why have them? Eliminate it completely. The party system has created such a toxic environment in this country, they're dragging it down with them. Eliminate them and let good people run on their own merits.

"This sort of thing is also what brings us straight ticket voting. Today, these are more for the uneducated or lazy voter."

So these voters who get themselves to the polling location and then often wait in line are too lazy and stupid to know which lever to pull once they get there? What an elitist and condescending statement.

Vote Republican, dumbasses. Not hard to see why that message doesn't resonate with the electorate.

btw, not sure if you saw this take in the NY Times (immediately came to mind reading this)...

"We Need a Second Party"
www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/friedman-we-need-a-second-party.html

You know how in Scrabble sometimes you look at your seven letters and you’ve got only vowels that spell nothing? What do you do? You go back to the pile. You throw your letters back and hope to pick up better ones to work with. That’s what Republican primary voters seem to be doing. They just keep going back to the pile but still coming up with only vowels that spell nothing.

There’s a reason for that: Their pile is out of date. The party has let itself become the captive of conflicting ideological bases: anti-abortion advocates, anti-immigration activists, social conservatives worried about the sanctity of marriage, libertarians who want to shrink government, and anti-tax advocates who want to drown government in a bathtub.

Sorry, but you can’t address the great challenges America faces today with that incoherent mix of hardened positions. I’ve argued that maybe we need a third party to break open our political system. But that’s a long shot. What we definitely and urgently need is a second party — a coherent Republican opposition that is offering constructive conservative proposals on the key issues and is ready for strategic compromises to advance its interests and those of the country.

"So these voters who get themselves to the polling location and then often wait in line are too lazy and stupid to know which lever to pull once they get there?"

If all they do is connect that one line for a straight ticket, then yes.

"Vote Republican, dumbasses."

Who said that? I think anyone who connects the Republican line is either lazy or uneducated as well. What's so hard about connecting the lines of each candidate you want to cast a vote for?

Russ is right that RI voters are not lazy. They know exactly what they are doing. Statistically, most of them are public employees, married to public employees, politicians, married to politicians, Brown/RISD socialists, or recipients of very generous state assistance at this late point in the endgame. The self-sufficient and merit workers fled the state a long time ago. Everyone knows that the RI Democratic Party is the one handing out the goodie bags, and economics teaches us that people do respond to incentivies.

"What's so hard about connecting the lines of each candidate you want to cast a vote for?"

Ha! Spoken like someone who's never worked at a polling location. Sometimes seems like every other voter has under or over voted his/her ballot. From a data quality/usability standpoint, I think there's a fairly compelling case to be made.

"Sometimes seems like every other voter has under or over voted his/her ballot."

Thank you for helping to speak to my comment about the civic education of our electorate.

"Thank you for helping to speak to my comment about the civic education of our electorate."

It must be hard to being so much smarter than the po' folk. Well, at least you're honest about your disdain for the lower classes. That's something I suppose.

In reality, a mismarked ballot could happen to anyone. The optical scanner is a bit unforgiving, especially so for folks in the older generation or those with disabilities (the stupid ones in your parlance).

"Statistically, most of them are public employees, married to public employees, politicians, married to politicians, Brown/RISD socialists, or recipients of very generous state assistance at this late point in the endgame."

Not most but a good 40%. The rest are made up of the brainwashed that believe the lie that the party that raises taxes on working people to unsustainable levels; the party of the most corrupt millionaire families in the state-Licht, Caprio, Jerzyk, Sundlun, Roberts, Whitehouse, Lynch (Pawtucket), Lynch (Warwick), Kennedy and so many others is "da party of da workin people".

"There’s a reason for that: Their pile is out of date. The party has let itself become the captive of conflicting ideological bases: anti-abortion advocates, anti-immigration activists, social conservatives worried about the sanctity of marriage, libertarians who want to shrink government, and anti-tax advocates who want to drown government in a bathtub."

Russ,
Thanks again for educating me with a totally unbiased article from an entirely non-partisan rag (pause while I puke). You should probably stick with your friends over on RIF that are sympathetic to your pathetic idealism. Oh that's right, even they didn't back you when you tried to justify throwing condoms at Catholic school children. Sorry about that.

PS: Just so we're clear, the 'thank you' was sarcasm.

"da party of da workin people"

Can't hear that often enough ...

"Thanks again for educating me with a totally unbiased article [sic] from an entirely non-partisan rag..."

So don't read it. No skin off my nose. Clearly there's nothing you can learn from the New York Times, although you might want to look into the difference between an article and an op-ed.