Gray Tribe

It's not enough to be "the third thing". There are so many possible third things that at times different people's proposed "third things" end up being almost exact opposites of each other.

The vibe of being "the third alternative to escape the binary" is appealing, but it has to be matched with the right substance.

Sometimes institutional designs (eg electoral rules) give a false feeling of polarization, when actually there's always at least four tribes at work within a given social group at any time.

The work of Mary Douglas on cultural types suggests that a two party system will never fully represent everyone within it.