Questions

I was asked a number of interesting questions while in Europe while meeting British, German, and Australian friends, and discovered a number of interesting impressions others have of the political situation in the USA.  One impression is that the two political parties in America are simply two variants of the same center-right political party, with the Democrats being slightly more center, and the Republicans being slightly more right.  When compared to other Western industrialized countries, this is usually true.

In the UK there are 3 major political parties which have over 90% of the seats in the House of Commons:  Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrats, all of which would be more "liberal" than either the Democrats or Republicans.  But there minor parties which also have seats:  the Scottish National, the Plaid Cymru in Wales, Democratic Unionist, and a few others.

In Germany, the two major parties, the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats have controlled the selection of Chancellors since 1949, but the Free Democrats, and the Green Party also have seats in the Government and have important roles in policy decisions.  The Pirate Party is growing rapidly.  All are to the left of American parties.

Perhaps Australian politics comes closest to the USA with the two major parties, Labor and Liberal/National Coalition dominating the country in recent years, but the Greens, Australian Party, and Democratic Labor Party also have seats in the government.  The Liberal/National Coalition is perhaps the only one that is center-right similar to the Democrats or Republicans in the U.S.  The ruling Labor Party is considered center-left.

I would have to agree with my friends concerning the position of American political parties on the political spectrum, however I would have to disagree with them that the difference is so small that there is no value in supporting one over the other in the present election cycle.  When one party supports women's rights and the other opposes it, one party supports health insurance for 30 million people who are now without it and the other party opposes it, and one party supports the great income inequality in the country and the other party opposes it, then I believe these are sufficient reasons to value one over the other.  Granted there is little chance for a third party to become established nationally, or even locally, in the near future.  The influence of money in American politics is well recognized, and, sadly, will prevent the growth of third parties, just as it has prevented the existing parties from moving to the center.  Forget about center-left or even radical centrist parties.  The last chance for that was lost in 1972 when I was in the Antipodes having a pie floater.