Hmm, didn't a geezer called Roosevelt try to start something called "the progressive party", and wouldn't it ahve been a ratehr good idea?

Here in the UK we have had the appalling experience of sleg=dgehammer majorities, but still haave trouble getting a third party up to any decent size. THe advantage here is that you can stand as a communist or "the British Party" (Neo-Nazi) and you won't get shot. THis is not an invitation to start another gun thread. THer are other issues in politics besides guns.

Back to sledgehammer majorities - once either party gets such a majority, then the whips get to work, and the internal majority sets out to eliminate dissent - and if you (an MP) refuse(s) to vote with the whip, the whip is withdrawn and his seat is lost at the next election. SO the self policing described above does not work. I suspect that it doesn't work in the USA either.