system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Political Parties are harmful public cults.

Every political cycle I wonder to myself, why are no independent candidates voted in? Why are we so invested in cults of political allegiance, that we miss the potential value of independent representatives?

If we're looking for more political diversity and stability in the long run I think political parties should be regulated in the same way governments *should* regulate corporate monopolies.   


If political parties were banned outright, I believe that we'd have more political innovation, more governmental efficiency, and voters would need to research more before voting because their choice doesn't come pre-labelled. I believe that representatives would be more effective at representing their citizens because the party is no longer the primary shareholder in their beliefs.   


Everyone being independent would make our government more stable because it avoids the extremes of political swings and overshoots.  
What am I missing?
gpt
What you're missing is game theory. People play games in the way that allows them to win.

For example, say you're playing Monopoly. You could decide "I won't buy any properties this game." But then you'll lose. So it's a bad strategy. So people don't play that way.

The United States is set up so that whoever wins the most votes, wins everything. There is no prize for second place. So if Candidate A gets 40% of the vote, and Candidate B gets 35% of the vote, and Candidate C gets 25% of the vote, then Candidate A gets everything and Candidates B and C get absolutely nothing.

Which means that the supporters of Candidate B and Candidate C have one thing in common: they don't want Candidate A to win, and they lose if they just vote for their preferred candidate. So if they're rational, they'll narrow it down to one candidate and throw their 60% behind that candidate, and then they'll win.

America has flirted with third parties and independents for hundreds of years, but it always comes back to two candidates, because of simple game theory. People tend to play the game the right way to win.

If you want to change the way people play, you have to change the game. It's as simple as that. You need to change the way democracy is structured.