An interesting fact about the United States Constitution is
despite its major influence over nearly every aspect of present day American politics,
it does not mention a characteristic of this country’s politics that most would
regard as essential: political parties. Today, the parties who have a massive
amount of the spotlight are the Republicans and the Democrats, as nearly every
competitive candidate in America counts themselves a member of one of these
parties. This two party system employed in the United States is different from
most other democracies, most notably in Europe who use multi-party systems to
elect their officials. Thus, in order to understand the two-party system in
America, the encouraging aspects as well as how this system damages our
political system must be examined in order to demonstrate its effects on this
nation’s democratic form of government.
The
positive aspects of using the two party system are numerous for American
democracy as they provide the voter with a clear cut decision (at least in
these partisan times) between two parties with completely different viewpoints
as well as helping the candidate by allowing him to standout in a race that
will most likely contain one other serious challenger. For voters, clarity is
key and as Michael Teuter, the CEO of Votenet points out that when candidates
clearly point out the differences between the two candidates who are running in
the elections, voters are more likely to come out to vote because less
confusion exists between who is voting[1].
A major way that candidates can succeed in separating themselves from their
competition is through advertising, an example of which is an ad put out by
Republican Congressman Leonard Lance called “Leaders” in which he discusses how
his fiscal conservatism is the paramount initiative to help put the country
back on the right path. This ad clearly stresses his conservative ideals as
opposed to his candidate, Janice Kovach, who is has a more liberal economic
policy according to her campaign website[2].
The result of these differences among others on social issues gives the people
in the New Jersey 7th, where these two candidates are running, clear
choices in who the candidates are and what their viewpoints as opposed to
similar candidates. This is supported by campaigns such as that of Rep. Sam
Johnson who due to the fact that he ran unopposed except for a another
Republican on the ballot, only about eight percent of his district voted for
him, because there was no other candidate to provide a reason for candidates to
go to the polls in mass amounts[3].
The two-party system encourages voting because it provides the electorate with
clear choices of what individuals stand on when they vote for them, as well as
more interest in insuring the person who holds their political view wins the
election.
Of
course, as the two-party system aids in democracy in some aspects it also
damages it by once the election of candidates with greatly differing views
takes place, the resulting government contains mostly partisans who refuse to
compromise and the how only having two parties limits the choice of voters on
who they can vote for. In a story by Halimah Abdullah on cnn.com, he references
a Cook Political Report study that finds the polarized electorate, or people dead
set on picking one party over another has doubled over the past decade[4].
This divergence has translated to even more partisan politicians now even more
refusal to compromise on values. Another issue with having a two-party system
is the amount of people a candidate has to choose from in an election: two.
This lack of choice forces Americans who are more moderate to have to pick
between candidates on the extreme left and right, and as Grant Piper points out
on conservativepolitico.com, this might lead them to not voting at all[5].
Thus, an unfortunate effect of the two-party system is the polarization it causes
when it comes to American democracy is elected officials often refuse to compromise
and furthermore, the extreme views of the candidates in elections takes away
moderate voices on issues.
The
two-party system has been a staple of American electoral politics since the
founding of the country, and its grip on American culture has promoted this
view for centuries detailed by the lack of third parties represented in government.
However, today more than ever, Americans are straying from the extreme views of
the two parties and leaning toward the middle, as a recent story in the San Diego
says that California voters, a traditionally Democratic state are moving
towards the middle by registering as Independents meaning that people are
moving to elect more moderate candidates. The results of this are yet to be
seen, but in my opinion possible conclusions could be a more moderate Congress
and the possibility of more parties representing different parties then the
ones who currently hold a majority of power in America.
[1]Tuteur,
Michael. "How Clarity and Disruption Increase Election Interest and
Turnout." Voting2point0.com. September 9, 2014. Accessed October 24, 2014.
http://www.voting2point0.com/2014/09/09/clarity-disruption-election-interest-turnout/.
[2] Kovach,
Janice. "On Jobs and the Economy." Janice Kovach for Congress.
January 1, 2014. Accessed October 23, 2014.
http://janicekovach.com/wp-content/uploads/ON-JOBS-AND-THE-ECONOMY.pdf.
[3] "Sam
Johnson." Ballotpedia. January 1, 2014. Accessed October 23, 2014. http://ballotpedia.org/Sam_Johnson_(Texas).
[4] Abdullah,
Halimah. "Partisan Politics in Congress the Product of a More Polarized
Electorate." CNN. June 12, 2014. Accessed October 23, 2014.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/politics/pew-survey-society-polarization/.
[5] Piper,
Grant. "Two Party System: Pros & Cons." Conservativepolitico.com.
September 6, 2012. Accessed October 23, 2014.
http://www.conservativepolitico.org/2012/09/two-party-system-pros-cons.html.
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