Duopoly and its Discontents

Jumping in Pools posts a piece of apparent anti-duopoly, Onion-style satire in which Obama declares "lesser [i.e. third] political parties unnecessary, hinting that he may consider outlawing them." It concludes:

"It is something we must deal with," the President said. "We cannot have dissenters in the government."

Since third party "dissenters" are already effectively barred from holding public office by local, state and federal laws, and since the only "lesser party" currently in government is the Republican Party, the satire functions as an indirect response to the threat Obama represents to the GOP, and, in this sense, it falls prey to the trappings of duopolist ideology. Tenacious Poodle, on the other hand, opts out entirely and calls for "a new non-party," with a program that would undermine any law outlawing dissent from the duopoly line:

I'm coining a new term. I'm an Independent Conlibvative. IC for short. I'm starting my own party, too, but no one can join because IC's don't believe in parties. We are a non-party with non-members . . . We shall overthrow the two-party system one obstinate, asocial person at a time.