Left, right and centre  Is anybody not complaining about the
present state of American politics?  See article  Readers'
comments    Lexington has erred on this point. Third parties
aren't dead. They enter one or both political parties and are
constantly changing them like environmentalists, civil
libertians and so forth. Then issues can also play a role. In
the last century a Democratic coaltition of the South and
industrial states formed an effective coalition which was broken
by the issue of civil rights and the subsequent shift by the
South to the more conservative Republican Party. The GOP in turn
formed another coalition between moderate and conservative
voters. It also left the Democratic Party too liberal and in
need of a wider base of voters. Fortunately the GOP was growing
more conservative with little room for others. In 1992 Bush
should have been re-elected but too many conservatives stayed
home on Election Day and Clinton won with the liberal and
moderate vote. The Republicans rebounded with Bush