| Oh how quickly we forget. The 20 candidates between the two major parties isn't actually significant. I decided to check out the primaries from the U.S. Presidential elections since and including 1980 to see how many mayor candidates were fielded in each of the parties' primaries. Which 20 (or 22 if you count the time when Scott Walker and Rick Perry was still running, which is only fair), then yes, 2016 is in the upper bracket, but not an outlier. Both 2008 and 1988 had 22 candidates running for president. Here is a handy list: 2012: Democrats: 1, Republicans: 13. (Total: 14.)
2008: Democrats: 10, Republicans: 12. (Total: 22.)
2004: Democrats: 11, Republicans: 1. (Total: 12.)
2000: Democrats: 2, Republicans: 13. (Total: 15.)
1996: Democrats: 3, Republicans: 10. (Total: 13 + 1.)
1992: Democrats: 8, Republicans: 7. (Total: 15 + 1.)
1988: Democrats: 13, Republicans: 9. (Total: 22.)
1984: Democrats: 8, Republicans: 2. (Total: 10.)
1980: Democrats: 4, Republicans: 10. (Total: 14 + 1.)
The reason there are 15 candidates on the Republican side has little to do with Citizens United and unlimited money in politics, but rather because the Republican Party is in disarray lacking an ability to field a strong candidate.The Democrats, on the other hand, have a pretty strong hand with Hillary Clinton. The 2008 book The Party Decides pretty much runs down how the primaries are mostly a show, and it's really the party leadership that decides who gets to be the nominee. No presidential candidate since and including 1980 have become their parties' nominee without endorsement from the party leadership. Additionally, you are not getting more choice. Unless you live in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina. If you live elsewhere, the primaries are likely to have been decided, so your vote will have little meaning. And by the time you get to the general election, you will - as in any U.S. presidential election - have two choices. Money are not creating all these candidates, chaos is. And either way, you are not getting more choice. A better solution to your problem might be encouraging third parties by abolishing your First past the Post system. Switch to party-list proportional representation in Congress and have the popular vote decide the presidential election. |