The current two party system in the United States has its benefits and downfalls. The signers of our Constitution were not strong believers in a party system, but ultimately today it is the basis of our elections for different reasons.
Benefits:
The two party system allows involvement of the public into decisions made by leaders elected. If there were to be only one party, it wouldn't matter what the public thought, or what their political concerns were. A two party system allows candidates to compete for public support by "listening." The two party system also calls for a more simple majority to win the election. This allows more than half of public to support the outcome. The two party system within Congress also allows for checks and balances of legislation with the President as well.
If there were to be more than two(sometimes three) parties, a simple majority may not win the election. This is turn would have more than half of the public lacking support for the outcome of an election. I think many smaller parties could be related to the development of factions, which is strongly advised against in the Federalist Papers.
Downfalls:
For obvious reasons, not everyone can be fairly represented by the existence of only two parties. Occasionally a strong independent candidate will rise, but campaigning only deters borderline republicans or democrats from voting for their respected party. Representatives are also very distracted by each other, and this distraction may result in less attention to the public. The two party system also deters more voters from the election polls as opposed to a multiple party system due to the fact that many people are not represented by the candidates who are running for office.
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1 comment:
I like how you gave a simplistic layout of your advantages and dis-advantages. You get straight to the point, and we need more of that in this class.
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