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Ideas

More Parties?

But after seeing how complicated it was getting consensus from lots of parties on the mildly complex scheme of a Yankee swap, I think two parties is the maximum that can get something accomplished.

Liberty from aboveIt’s Christmas and I went to a party tonight with 19 other folks.

Part of the entertainment was a Yankee swap. Everyone brought one present and put it under the tree. Later, a number between 1 and 20 was randomly assigned to each person.

Starting with 1 and going one person at a time, a gift was selected and opened. When it’s your turn, you can trade for any gift that’s already open – from anyone who’s number is lower than yours and has an open gift.

It’s actually really fun once everyone understands and agrees to the rules. Getting everyone on board is surprisingly tough. There’s drinking, socializing, new people attending, along with different ages and agendas, and not all but mostly Americans I’d say.

Seeing the early stage of explaining the game, I started thinking that it sometimes seems weird that American politics has just two parties. But after seeing how complicated it was getting consensus from lots of parties on the mildly complex scheme of a Yankee swap, I think two parties is the maximum that can get something accomplished.