Third Parties

 

It Takes Two

One can have a dream, baby
Two can make that dream so real
One can talk about being in love
Two can see how it really feels

Maybe it takes three.

The United States has three parties. What’s that you say? You understand that there are Democrat and Republican parties, but what is that third party? The US Constitution and the voters in the United States are that third party. Often in what appears to be a two-player game, like a baseball game, a football game, a chess match, or elections, there is an implicit third party. A professional  baseball game happens because there is Major League Baseball to administer the rules of the game and provide the umpires. Similarly professional American football games happen because there is a National Football League, college games happen because there is a National College Athletic Association, chess matches are sanctioned by the Chess Federation, etc. Even though there are only two political parties, they vie for elections under the US Constitution, etc. These third parties may have no stake in the outcome of those two-player contests, but they are important because they are the administrators of the rules for those contests and want to ensure the success and continuation of those two-player contests.

According to games theory, there are different strategies for winning a two-player game, than a three or more-player game. In a three-player game, not only individual behavior, but also behavior that continues the games and benefits the group is rewarded. In a two-player game, only individual behavior is rewarded, not the continuation of the game or the benefit of the group. I have argued that two-player games are only an illusion. There are only two players if there is no group that administers the rules of the game. If that third party is doing its job correctly, it should not even be noticed, but it is still there. Acting as if there are only two parties may be why we have a problem. In a two-player game, there is no incentive for the players to abide by the rules of the game. Winning is the only thing, even if you cheat to win. But it is winning for the group, not winning for the individual, that matters in the long run. It takes three, not two.