Voting for the President

Technically speaking, voters do not vote for the President, they vote for electors who vote for the President. There have in fact been times when electors have voted differently than the voters in the states they represent. Additionally, the "winner-take-all" aspect of the Electoral College is not carved in stone. Most states use that system (i.e., if 50.00001% of the state's voters vote for a particular candidate, all of the state's electors vote for that candidate), but there is at least one (and it's early in the morning and i'm not as sharp as i might be, so i don't recall which state it is) which requires the vote of the electors to reflect the vote of the voters--i.e., if 60% of the voters chose one candidate, and 40% another, then six of ten electors in that state vote for the first candidate, and four vote for the other. It is a very complex system, with a very complex history.

To the extent that the Republicans and Democrats have a death grip on power, and for whatever public mud they sling at one another, are intent on assuring that only Republicans or Democrats attain high office in this country, one might suggest that the fix is in. However, your scenario (from whatever source, i'm not criticizing you personally) about the next President being known and chosen is nonsense. A little over a hundred years ago, William Jennings Bryan gave the two major parties a really bad scare--he came very close to ending their monopoly on the White House. Since then, no matter how sharp the daggers which they hope to plunge into one another's backs, the two parties close ranks to assure that no third party gets established. Apart from that, the two parties cooperate about as well as cats and dogs.

Once again, with no personal criticism of you, i would point out that both of the statements you offer are simplistic and naive. There is never a simple explanation for such complexities as national politics, so if anyone ever tells you there is, just smile, say: "Uhuh," and go find something interesting to do.