VIDEO: Why Do We Have a Two-Party System?

How do you feel about the two-party system?

  • 41.9k
    jimK
    10/27/2022

    A third political party can provide some benefits to our governance and some risks as well. I do think that, at this time, the risks do outweigh the benefits. 

    The two party system is the natural consequence that pits the views of people who focus on their desire to protect ‘what was’ (conservatives) and those that want to improve or protect the future by considering ‘what will be and what can be’ (liberals).

    If all of the party’s members and leadership honored their oath’s of office, if the parties did not regiment their membership and if legislators all honored the precepts of the Constitution and the norms that any democracy requires, this would not be an issue.

    Our country functioned almost exactly that way for many years until Newt Gingrich showed the power of regimenting membership to block vote and just follow the party leadership’s direction.  The Democrats did similarly to match the collective power of Republican regimentation, although to a much lessor degree.

    Newt Gingrich preached that Democrats were political enemies with whom they were at war and much of the collegiality between Republican and Democratic Party members that had existed quickly began to fade away - along with civility, fair play, or honesty.  The Republican regimentation turned their political party into a political faction, where the party’s needs began to be more important than the people’s needs.

    McConnell broke new ground be ignoring the norms that kept the Congress functional, if only barely. He stated that he would make new Obama a single term President before he was sworn in and worked to that end through dirty tricks and stunts, such as refusing to consider Obama’s nominees and tabling several hundred of House authored legislative packages that he personally did not like: no debate, no notice to the Senate, no checks on his ability to serve as the sole arbiter of what the Senate could could even consider.

    Later he turned a blind eye to the increasingly egregious abuses of the Office of the President by the trump, because it was politically expedient.

    The Republican faction could justify these violations of their oath’s of office because, after all, winning a war can be used as a justification for unethical tactics: the Republican faction transformed into an organized Cartel - and this is a very dangerous constipation of the Congress.

    Consider that the framer’s envisioned a ‘Congress’ to be what a ‘Congress’ was defined to be when they wrote the constitution; it was modeled after the Roman Congress with a touch of American Indian inter-tribal councils, where knowledgable independent representatives would gather to discuss issues of import and develop collaborative solutions to resolve them.

    They were very worried when the political parties first started to form, fearing that political parties would devolve into political factions more interested in protecting their party’s interests than the country’s.

    As a clear example that this has happened, look no further than McConnell’s promise that the Republican Cartel would not support the investments in moving more semiconductor manufacturing stateside if the Democrats ‘went ahead with their climate change foolishness’. To be clear, the Cartel was willing to tank a program that they endorsed if the Democrat’s dared to attempt passage of clearly needed climate change investment - only because they would gain political points for doing so. This IS putting party before country. When the Democrats announced a breakthrough in their climate legislation after the Senate voted for the chips bill because they thought the climate stuff was dead, they had a hissy fit and refused to fund our veterans burn-pit toxic exposure relief bill in a block vote to punish the Democrats for gaining a political advantage. The toxic relief bill had already been passed by an 84 to 14 vote and was only returned to correct some minor administrative details, and was now rejected by the Cartel in order keep the Democratic Party from getting political ‘creds’ for passing it. How are these actions anything but putting their political party’s interests above the county’s interests? 

     


    The political party system, with hard drawn party lines makes most legislation a choice between polar opposite views and runs counter gaining meaningful collaboration. A third party would introduce an alternative view where collaborative alliances between one of the bipolar opposites would have to lessen their polarity because the third party would become the tie breaker.  In general, and for these reasons, I like the concept of a third political party. 

    I consider a third party as providing the catalyst to force other party’s to focus political debate on issues of major import to the future of the country instead of the emotive social issues where they can pontificate but resolve little - kind of like Ross Perot did in the Clinton-Bush election. The political debate initially seemed to focus on a liberal vs conservative view of gay’s serving in the military which was a very important social issue for many but the pontifications were more a ‘my religious beliefs are better than yours’ argument while the issue needed to be resolved by clear policies instead of ‘holier than thou’ arguments. Then Ross Perot changed to debate with his ‘it’s the economy, stupid’ comments. That would be a valuable contribution that a third party could provide.

     


    However, Ross Perot also split the vote and a third political party would as well; and this is a risk that cannot be taken in the 2024 Presidential or Congressional elections (this new party claims that it will not be able to field a Presidential nominee by 2024 - but still, it is a worry).

    The problem, of course, is the MAGA cult which has swallowed the preachings of the trump with a religious fervor. They represent around 30% of the electorate and are committed (or at least, they should be). 

    A split presidential and congressional vote in 2024 would favor the return of MAGAnomics and the country would not survive another round of their bull crap.

     


    To further speculate, it would really be interesting to see where the big-money wealthy conservatives would put their money, where honest conservatives interested in actually governing instead of obstructing might go and the ultimate future of the current Republican Cartel. I could see them fading away as the erstwhile Whig party did, perhaps the new party would be remained ‘The principled, ethical conservative Republican Replacement Party’.

     


    Of course, the easiest way to prevent our country becoming of, by and for the wealthiest’s drive to become a Christian Nationalist theocracy committing the public to their ‘one true God’ instead of becoming of, by and for the people, would be to outlaw all external money from influencing any and all parts of our government. And further, by providing candidates with defined and limited taxpayer funds to campaign with.

    The Republican Cartel would no longer have any reason nor desire to remain in office if they could no longer sell their political influence to the highest bidder. Neither party would have large funding available to control party members to ‘toe the party line’ and we would see both houses of Congress having to began to honestly and transparently work out the details of what all our congress people can collectively agree to. 

    There is little debate anymore in either house of congress. The Republican Cartel has reduced debate to just performance art where members stand up for their five minutes to recite something from the talking points list that party leadership provides so they can get a sound bite for their constituents. Watch this play out sometime - the Republicans all say the very same things, some reading directly word for word from the list of items that they were given. The Democratic Party does similar things but less extreme and with much less regimentation.

    We could easily weed out those in Congress who are only there for personal financial benefit if we got dark money out of influencing any aspect of our governance, especially our legislators. 

    The political party’s regimentation and control of their members would be greatly diminished without outside funding to enforce party leadership’s will on their members; which would lead to a greater need to compromise and collaborate. We would free our politicians from having to spend much of their time on fund raising, giving them more time to focus of the job they were entrusted by the people to do.

    We wouldn’t be drawn to elect the prettiest face, the loudest voice or the empty promises of a media savvy snake-oil salesmen.

    We would only elect the best, brightest and most competent leaders who want to take on the hardships of honestly governing and who have the ethical backbone to honor their oaths of office to do the people’s work and make our county a better place for us all.

  • 12.0k
    Mary
    Voted Angry
    10/26/2022

    The 2 party system is failing us.  People need to have more viable choices.

  • 1,515
    Mike
    Voted Sad
    10/26/2022

    The ONLY way we can break the two-party logjam is to switch to preferential (also known as instant run-off) voting, like Alaska, Maine, Australia, NYC, and some other jurisdictions do.  Then voters can vote for who they REALLY like, regardless of whether they're likely to win, as well as their second choice, a mainstream party.

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

  • 2,206
    wpeckham
    Voted Apathetic
    10/26/2022

    I wish we had a five party system, so no one party could become powerful enought to have everything their own way. 

  • 2,797
    Robert
    Voted Excited
    10/26/2022

    Another 50/50 mix here on this App. 

    I am 72 now and BTW yesterday was the beginning of early voting here in Louisiana. The wife and I went to cast our votes yesterday. All Democrats and Republicans and Independents should go vote as soon as possible. 

    I think I have been a republican all my life. I can remember back when I was about six years old President Eisenhower was running for a second term which he won BTW. I remember signs and commercials saying I LIKE IKE. At that age I did too. Since he became President in 1952 when I was only two he was essentially the only President I ever knew. He had the country in pretty good shape and was a true leader I thought. 

    The two parties use to be much closer than they are now by a long shot. I think back today when just twenty years after President Eisenhower got out of office another leader and communicator who had been Governor of California for two full terms. He refused to run for a third term. In 1980 he got elected following Jimmy Carter who by all accounts almost demoralized the United States and with the Iranian hostages crisis that went on for 444 days he career was over. President Regan was able to restore the economy and BTW as he was swearing in the hostages were being released in Iran. 

    Now our country needs a two party system to keep things honest. The debate between the two parties shows pretty much what the American people are thinking. There is a pendulum That swings in the mood of the country. Before the big tech and the internet we got our political information from newspapers magazines and from the three networks on TV NBC ABC CBS. To watch a new broadcast at that time was very different and it was very hard to watch the news and figure out the party of the anchor. I remember Newsline on ABC with Ted Koppel and Dan Rather on CBS.  We all remember Walter Cronkite. In 1963 he was the anchor that our school showed on TV announcing the assassination of President Kennedy who by the way I actually liked and trusted after the Cuban missile crisis. My father was stationed at Dyess AFB in Abilene Tx at the time and because we had two wings of B52's all fully loaded with nuclear weapons our base was #10 on the hit list for Russia to hit. We spent 5 days in our bomb shelter while he had to go to work on the base. We stayed there until he returned when it was all clear. I was 12 years old at the time. 

    At present it is much like a one party system as the big tech and networks have all gone green and talk the party line. 

    we have a President that condemns MAGA. Spoiler alert Comrade dear leader Beijing Biden, MAGA stands for MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. Comrade that is what you are against to make America great again?

     

    So we can all do better talking to each other and quit screaming at each other.

     

    GOD BLESS AMERICA.

  • 46.2k
    Brian
    Voted Sad
    10/26/2022

    We need more parties, especially since so many voters these days would rather be independent than align with one of the two parties we have. There is no rule saying we can only have two parties, but the system is rigged so that hardly any other candidates can win in elections. 

    If there were more parties, maybe more people's voices would be heard in political offices, and maybe we'd have a better chance of change.

  • 21
    Lauren
    10/20/2022

    I beleve it's long over due to END the 2 party system in the USA. Too much> Self Interests > Global Profiteering> Huge Money from Greedy Investor's outside the USA> Corruptions from BIG Corporations> Racism, & Sexist motivations> The system has failed working class americans my entire 70 yrs, of life.  It's way over due to change the 2-party system. A Glaring Failure!    

  • 518
    TheToddfather
    Voted Angry
    10/26/2022

    The two-party system is a joke, and a bad one at that. Is it any wonder why the country becomes more and more divided as these two parties consolidate their power? Is it any wonder that when the Republicans become more and more of a threat to our freedoms that they do not start losing races when there are only two alternatives? Is it any wonder that, in many areas of the country that it is functionally a one-party system? In Texas one third of the races have been called before voting even started because there were no opponents. And many times there are no opponents because that area is tied up in a neat bow for whatever party is popular there. What we really and truly need here is proportional voting with proportional representation. In this way, parties gain seats based on percentage of votes with those below a certain threshold - say 4% as in some European countries - not gaining any seats. This would give many, many more people a voice in government. First-past-the-post resultswith a two-party system is a recipe for disaster and one reason why I highly doubt this country, as it currently stands, will survive much longer. It was built to fail by a bunch of dudes that really had no clue what they were doing and, in the end, wanted to retain as much power for themselves (rich white guys) as possible. In that, they did succeed. But in a true democracy? Not so much. The first-past-the-post two-party system we have MUST be done away with if we are to survive.

  • 7,256
    DaveS
    Voted Apathetic
    10/26/2022

    People that don't vote, will still not vote even if it impacts their lives, which it does. You need informed voters. Corporations money runs the government, set prices and cost of everything adding more political parties is not going to change that. Citizen United screw the country over and democracy!

    We need people that are not white supremacy conspiracy theories and propaganda pushers echo chamber, but informed people with truth, data and facts.

  • 468
    E
    Voted Sad
    10/28/2022

    The first thing needs to be done a special interest groups need to be abolished. I vote for the heritage fascist foundation to go first.

  • 3,775
    John
    Voted Apathetic
    10/27/2022

    This has just come to light and it is more important to me right now I would like to know why the two armed men and I say armed men came into a polling station in Georgia trade after the election and demanded to see the voting machines claiming they were with the federal government as they proceeded to disassemble them and botched attempt to try to see if they had been tampered with. These two men said they were federal agents they tampered with the voting machines and they have not been charged at all with a crime this is bullshit.

  • 1,409
    The Rev Dr Edward
    Voted Apathetic
    10/27/2022

    I am not sure the two party system is functioning as it should. There seem to be four parties or more hidden within the structure of the two parties. At times, no clear direction is being expressed by either one. It saddens me to see the infighting going on intraparty. I am sad to say that because of what Trump has done to us, we are in a state of extremism and total confusion.

  • 7,796
    PLZ
    Voted Angry
    10/27/2022

    Right to be honest, I do not agree with either the left or the right at this moment. Their ideologies are too far extreme in both cases. I wish we had a candidate that was somewhere in the middle of the road and protecting America and our citizens. These Democrats don't give a flying shit About our great country. They have demonstrated over and over again with their greed and their special interest groups and have totally turned our world upside down just for a few wealthy billionaires. They say they will tax these companies the highest yet these companies are the ones that are getting all of the grant money . When you have a boy "identifying as a girl" and is being allowed into girls lockers rooms, there is something very very wrong with these left-wing idiots. Most of them are pedophiles, rapist, sick, sick people, including the current President of the United States.  he should be locked up for all the fondling. He does have young girls people better start waking up before it's too late for our country because they are taking us down into the gutter of a Third World country. 

  • 5,397
    Archilochus
    10/26/2022

    We need more than two parties, and ranked choice voting to go with it. The current system obviously does not work and has been distorted most recently beginning with Newt Gingrich and his Contract on America, which was added and abetted by Ronald Reagan. The Founding Fathers did not want political parties at all, but they formed early on with Thomas Jefferson forming the first political party in the United States in 1792. His Democratic-Republican Party, also called the Jeffersonian Republican Party ceased to exist as of 1834. There have been a number of parties, the Constitution Party, the Green Party, the Forward Party, and the Libertarian Party are among the 209 parties that currently exist in the United States. Only the Democrat and Republican Parties have been able to achieve ballot status in all 50 states and territories.

    The dangers inherent in our current polarization are a result of the two party dopminant system. The America First theme, from which MAGA derives, was first used by the American Nazi Party during WW II. That is a piece of history that needs to be known. Also, re: Reagan, something that is often pushed into the background is that after he completed his second term of office one of his aides revealed that the timing of the hostage release was due to Reagan having held backroom negotiations with Iran to sabotage Carter's efforts and boost his own election. Reagan also had Iran-Contra which is conveniently forgotten about. Then there is Johnson choosing not to reveal the treason that Nixon committed to get elected. Kennedy's election probably would not have occurred if it had not been for the assistance of Mayor Richard Daley and the Chicago Democratic Machine. Both parties are a problem, but the Republican history is more sordid.

    We need more than two parties, and ranked choice voting.

  • 3,658
    Kevin
    Voted Angry
    10/26/2022

    The two-party system is a huge part of the problem. We need to smash up the system, and I was disappointed to learn that anti-trust laws can't be used to dissolve them. The time I spent in Europe convinced me we need more parties, all of them need to be weak and we must rid ourselves of all pro-plutocrat conservativism, because conservativism leads to human rights violations.

  • 2,905
    Arlys
    10/26/2022

    I don't believe in "political parties".  I have often re-registered so I can vote in the "primary" for the person of my choice.  As a result, my e-mail is "bombbarded" with request for donations from both parties.  These donations are then distributed throughout the nation to financially support someone NOT running in my state.  Politicians are constantly raising money for their preferred party allowing the party to donate more funding from outside sources to the local politician running for office.  ALL politicians should only accept donations from within their own state and not rely on out-of-state money.  The CEO, chairman, board of directors, and president of the "board" working for their party are also getting paid out of those very same funds.  Since politicians are SUPPOSED TO WORK for the people of their state, limiting where their campaign funds come from would encourage the elected official to do what the voters of their state want.  If they don't, they run the risk of kissing their cush job goodbye.  It would also force these so-called politicians to take a stand on their position of certain matters instead of all the "mud slinging" that goes on to distract the population from more important matters.  Outlaw all political parties so the people can regain their own authority ie, "WE THE THE PEOPLE".

  • 3,930
    Jean
    Voted Apathetic
    10/26/2022

    CAUSES ASKS, "How do you feel about the two-party system?"  ME: Rather indifferent right now.  Since we can't even intelligently handle a two-party system, how much  more ugly would it get with more than two?  Of course, the GOP would like to see a ONE party system, and it's quite possible that they may eventually get what they want. Until drastic measures are taken to silence misinformation, disinformation, and out-and-out lies in the public media, a kabosh put on the political vitriol, and perhaps a change or two to the Constitution, I'm not optimistic for the future of the United States of America, and the thought of a third political party  -- actually, there already are a multiplicity of political parties beyond The Two, e.g., the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and several others less well known etc. -- does not give me comfort.  So far, third parties simply split the vote, most recently to the disadvantage of Democrats: after the 2016 election putting trump in power I did some calculations in some states he lost, and had the Green Party not existed and those votes gone to Clinton (more probable than to trump) the Orange Man would have lost.

     

     

  • 13.2k
    MrGeer
    10/26/2022

    we need multiple parties like other countries, and a coalition government made up of Greens, Socialist, and Communists to counter the far right, and center Dems.  we need  true Left parties, as well as ranked choice voting.

  • 1,261
    anihundt
    Voted Angry
    10/26/2022

    I need candidates, Democrats and Republicans to understand that it is country over party. Votes are earn not a given. You work for the people.

    We hire you to do the job. Now if you want to become famous or just talk about your opinions start a podcast. We are only hiring people who actually want to work.

  • 1,831
    RoyB
    10/26/2022

    Mine is simple.  

    Adopt the popular vote.   Disband all parties.   That way, Senators or Representatives have to periodically report and check with his/her constituents whom they represent, instead of whatever the party's mission is.   

    The same applies to a governor or any elected gov't position to truly represent the PEOPLE.

    Simple, but any political persons who depend on the support of parties to get their funds won't go for that.

    People who want to be heard would support that, I think.  

    The caveat of this idea, frankly, is how will less-than-rich candidates get their funding.   The rich ones can afford advertising and because of that will likely win so not a perfect system but better than the existing system, I think.

  • 1,834
    Dawn
    Voted Sad
    10/26/2022

    Times change, progress changes, and so should our political system. The entire "right or left" only is antiquated garbage that needs updating!

     

    Nothing is ever going to change if there are only 2 possible choices out of a country with millions of people!

  • 2,934
    Gdbondii
    Voted Apathetic
    10/26/2022

    We need m,ore choices as so many times there is not a diffwerence.  But this year is it democracy or authoritism