Anthony Wing Kosner has this Forbes column, arguing that a relatively new concept in physics, the Constructal Law, predicts that the U.S. habit of forcing all electoral activity into just two dominant political parties is not sustainable. The Constructal Law is explained in a 2012 book by Adrian Bejan and J. Peder Zane, “Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology, and Social Organization.”

Kosner is a design specialist. His column ought not to concede that the U.S. has always had a two-party system (although “two-party system” has many meanings, and people who use it ought to define it whenever they use it). In the 1850’s the United States had four major parties, and in the 1890’s it had three major parties. Also Wisconsin, in the period 1934-1944, had three major parties; and Minnesota in the period 1922-1942 also had three major parties.

The title of Kosner’s piece is “Duper Tuesday: Romney and Santorum Show we Already Have Three Parties (or More).”