THIS IDEA IS GAINING TRACTION – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  Governor John Kasich of Ohio, a somewhat eccentric Republican governor. said over the weekend what a number of voices have hinted at in recent months – that the two-party system may be near its end.   From the Washington Times: 

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, one of the loudest Republican critics of President Trump, said Sunday that both parties are failing American citizens and that a “multi-party system” could materialize sooner rather than later.

In an interview on ABC’s “This Week” program. Mr. Kasich — who has been rumored to be mulling a primary challenge against Mr. Trump in 2020, though he said Sunday he has no plans to mount such a run — said Americans, particularly young people, are increasingly disillusioned with both parties.

“I want to support candidates who I believe want to take the high road. Those that want to create discord and those that want to put the party in front of the country, I’m not showing up,” he said.

“I will tell you another thing. We may be beginning to see the end of a two-party system. I’m starting to really wonder if we are going to see a multi-party system at some point in the future in this country. Because I don’t think either party is answering people’s deepest concerns and needs.”

COMMENT:  He may be right, but I think it may come down to a third party developing that would eventually replace one of the two major parties.

The Democrats are probably in greater jeopardy than the GOP.  While the GOP has its nut cases and its factions, it has a kind of general unity.  However, the Democratic Party has truly been taken over by leftist extremists, way outside the American mainstream.  The Democratic Party of Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy is only a memory, replaced by the party of Barack Obama.  The national chairman is a fringe leftist who curses during rallies where children are present.  The second-in-command is a former member of the Nation of Islam.  

It isn't hard to imagine a group of moderate Democrats, perhaps joined by some moderate Republicans, breaking off and forming a new party of the center-left.  Its immediate impact, if it is well funded, might well be to deny the current Democratic Party the voters it needs to win any national election. 

But that is speculation.

February 26,  2018