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That's because in a truly libertarian system, it will always evolve from many parties to just a few and then two, and then one (as many people think about the Republicans and Democrats).

It's noted that the US does have a lot more freedoms than countries in Europe. Yet it is European democracies that have a greater choice of parties.

I believe this is generally attributed to the electoral process. The US mostly uses a first-past-the-post system, which inevitably leads to two large parties since if there were lots of parties, you'd end up without a majority.

Many other countries use proportional representation. In this case smaller parties have more influence (since the threshold for inclusion is much lower than 50%), resulting in more electoral choice (and more coalitions).

I'm not really familiar with the US voting system though, so please correct me if I'm wrong. In the UK it's also first-past-the-post, and basically a two party system.

Sorry if you were already well aware of this. I just think it's interesting how the system has such a big influence (even before Google gets to it).

Edited 2012-11-07 17:21 UTC

I consider myself independent, but when I lean it's generally Libertarian. I had hoped that the people in this country turning voting age this year would also be independent or at least form their own well-informed opinions. However in my (admittedly limited) experience it seems new adults just side blindly with their parents or, even worse, with their peer groups. It seems individuality and free thinking are still phantom concepts, at least around here.

Then again, I live deep in the heart of Dixie so I really shouldn't be surprised.

Thank you, THANK YOU for not writing here the usual ~"are becoming phantom concepts" / "old times were so much better" myth.