Adolf Hitler was a poor student of mathematics, but he got the hang of it sufficiently to figure how to take over the German government. A “majority,” Hitler reasoned, consisted of 51 per cent of the votes necessary to control 51 per cent of the seats in the legislature — 26 per cent of those voting, in other words. Unfortunately, the majority of Americans now find themselves victims of the same political calculation.

Polls indicate that the liberal Democrats now in charge of the Federal government have basically the same values as about 25 to 35 per cent of the population, depending on the issue, with about 30 per cent being a rough median. Looking at the flip side of the equation, almost 7 out of 10 Americans do not agree with many of the the principles of the Democrats who govern them.

On the other hand, polls also indicate that conservative Republicans, formerly in charge of the Federal government and currently in charge of very little, also have basically the same values as 25 to 35 per cent of the population. So, again, about 7 out of 10 Americans do not agree with many of the principles of the Republicans who formerly governed them.

Current polling results focusing on “party identification” are contradictory and somewhat misleading. Republican Party identification is down, Democratic Party identification is up, but the results of generic Congressional preference polls are very close — that is, about as many favor Republicans as favor Democrats. The major parties may be moving towards an even match heading toward the 2010 Congressional elections.

Once again, many voters will have the all-to-familiar “lesser of two evils” choice. The two major parties have effectively monopolized ballot access, with legislation in every state that gives them automatic slots but forces third-party candidates to expend substantial time and money simply to get on the ballot. This is typically accomplished by collecting large numbers of signatures on petitions — which the Democrats and Republicans then have the opportunity to challenge, signature by signature, forcing the minor party to waste even more time and money. Of course, minor parties have no right to challenge a major party’s nominee on, say, the grounds that the Democrats have nominated an idiot and the Republicans have nominated a fool. The idiot and the fool get automatic places on the ballot; that’s the law.

Since the philosophical realignment of the major parties in the 1960s and 1970s, coalition-building has waned markedly. The party is either liberal-controlled or conservative-controlled. With the Democratic Party presently controlling both the White House and Congress, the 26 per cent of the polity which is most liberal controls the national agenda and has the power to enact laws even when those laws are opposed by a majority of voters.

The major parties have abandoned coalition-building because they share the two-party politigopoly (political oligopoly). The party is either “in” or “out” and nothing else matters.

Adolph would be mightily amused.

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A slightly longer version of this article with an appendix of references is available on Backcountry Notes.