Like your two-party system? Has California got a proposition for you

Just a few days from now, voters in California will have the power to alter their political landscape radically – in the direction of both the Democrats and Republicans.

The election on June 8 will determine whether Proposition 14 becomes the law of the state. This particular proposition would change the way that state elections work in California. Rather than the traditionally recognizable primary election-then-general election scheme that usually results in the top two vote-getters being the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate, this proposition would introduce two rounds of voting that would, in the end, result in the top two vote-getters being the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate. That's assuming that minor parties don't get an infusion on the order of billions of dollars from private donors anytime soon.

See, that first round of elections would be nothing more than a means to produce the roster for the runoff election to follow. Then, in the second round of voting, the two candidates who got the most candidates in the first round of elections would go head-to-head. That's right: the ballot would contain just two names – not the potentially dozens that are now available under current election laws.

Current donation patterns favor the Democratic Party and the Republican Party astronomically more than other political parties, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that those two parties' candidates would be the ones on the ballot for the second and final election round. Now, the possibility of a candidate with lots of pocket money being in the final election round is very high, given current electoral patterns. However, for every Michael Bloomberg (successful candidate for Mayor of New York) there is a Steve Forbes (unsuccessful candidate for President – twice). Which category will Meg Whitman join? The voters of California will decide that as well for the former eBay CEO.

There's also the possibility that only one political party will be represented, since the requirement is only that the top two vote-getters in the first round advance to the final round. Both finalists could belong to the same political party, since the one-candidate-per-party requirement wouldn't be in the law anymore. Still, not sure how the Natural Law Party could ever advance a candidate to the final election round by being first or second vote-getters, whereas the party, under current law, is guaranteed of getting a candidate on the final ballot.

Even though this measure would seem to favor the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, both parties have come out firmly against Proposition 14, most likely because they don't like the last possibility, that of two candidates representing the same political party facing off in the final election, freezing out the opposing political party altogether. And that's the possibility that frightens the Democrats and Republicans in California. That's the reason that they have announced their opposition to Proposition 14 – along with other, smaller political parties.

We've been here before. Anyone remember 1996? The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated that law. But just two years ago, a measure strikingly similar to that one was upheld by the same High Court.

Who knows? Maybe the top-two system will work. Shouldn't we wait and see? We have been here, though. That's how Aaron Burr got to be Vice-president.