my major complaint with the two-party system is that, unlike in a capitalist market, brand loyalty dominates the performance of a product.
take, for example, pre-2000 mccain: lax on taxes, a moderate rabble-rouser, and a washington-outsider. now consider 2008 mccain: everything the GOP deems as a sacred quality of a republiclone, simply for the fact that campaign advisors knew that anything else may represent him as unelectable on the GOP ticket
also, in a representative democracy, it is nearly impossible to label a politician as a poor product, since there are often some great qualities associated with a given politician, yet said politician may yield many slander-worthy views. for example, the new coke failed miserably in the marketplace among competition because it sucked balls. however, if the comparison were between a variety pack of: a) shit, happy endings from a sexy asian, and taxes and b) toothy blowjobs from a lot lizard, free beer, and punches in the face, one would have little say as to which components of the variety packs mattered enough to favor one over the other.
