Party Realignment: A Necessity for Representation

Chapter 9 of the Struggle for Democracy discusses political parties and their role in American politics and government. While political parties try to gain majority and power in the government, they serve as an intermediate and centralization of representation. This is done through keeping elected officials responsive, stimulating political interest, ensuring accountability, helping people make sense of complexity in politics, and generally making government work. As the United States becomes more partisan, political parties play an increasingly important role in determining what happens in the government. Political parties are growing in importance in whether or not the government is following through on one of the most important democratic principles, representation. Representation and how well the government hears the people’s voices and opinions determines if the government is actually working as it is supposed to, for the people.

Early signs indicate that the parties need to realign. During the 2016 election, most Americans were dissatisfied with the candidates. One major reason for the dissatisfaction was the political parties lack of understanding the changing public opinion and culture of the United States.

The generational shift is one of most important causes for the need of party realignment as the newer generations and increases in the electorate have different visions and beliefs than the previous generations in power. As the United States moves away from the Baby Boomers and the subsequent generations after and toward Millennials as they awaken their political conscience, for parties to remain relevant, they must adapt to the changing public opinion. It could be by taking stances on new issues that now seen as important or accept new generalizations and beliefs. Generally, this would mean that the parties would need to accept certain steps of progress socially and in terms of civil rights like with the LGBTQ community. According to a Pew survey, Millennials and Gen Xers outvoted Baby Boomers and older generations in the 2016 presidential election with Millennials and Gen Xers casting 69.6 million votes compared Baby Boomers and older generations casting 67.9 million votes. With newer generations taking the majority and command of the electorate, changes between generations and changing beliefs must be taken account for within the government and political parties are one of the direct representatives of political beliefs and ideologies in a growing partisan environment. Political parties are the centralization of political ideologies and need to realign in order to reflect changes and beliefs directly within the government.

Signs from before the 2016 presidential election even demonstrate the growing shift and need for political realignment. The Tea Party movement in the Republican Party that grew in 2009 and 2010 suggested a move toward the right for the Republican Party in its base. The most recent presidential selection further supported this movement right by nominating and election Donald Trump, a voice for this new Republican party and right within the American government as well as a rejection of the current state of politics in the United States. On the other side, while less organized than the Tea Party movement, the Occupy Wall Street illustrated the changes occurring on the Democratic side. Political parties need to catch up and represent what their base supports and believes and the American public as a whole believes and thinks.

A widening difference between the two parties’ demographics also suggest not only cause for the shift towards the extremes of the political and ideological spectrum, but also the need to realign with how the nation as a whole believes and what members of the party believe.

In order to fulfill their purpose, parties need to realign every so often. If they do not change and adapt with the times and the electorate, parties provide no support for the democratic workings of our government and thus are not useful in ensuring that the government works and represent the people of the United States and their opinions. Currently, the political parties and their platforms are starting to show failure in moving toward the growing public consensus. As a result, these not-representative platforms are being pushed in Congress and the government, dissatisfying the growing majority of Americans specifically in terms of the government and if they are really working for them. Since political parties make up a major force in government and as extreme partisanship continues to rise, the United States is losing one of its championing successes and privileges; representativeness and how voices can be heard and used to cause important political action and change.

Work Referenced:

http://www.people-press.org/2016/09/13/the-parties-on-the-eve-of-the-2016-election-two-coalitions-moving-further-apart/

http://www.people-press.org/2016/12/20/in-elections-wake-partisans-assess-the-state-of-their-parties/

http://www.people-press.org/2015/04/07/a-deep-dive-into-party-affiliation/

5 Responses to "Party Realignment: A Necessity for Representation"

Margaret Castelli says:

December 4, 2017 at 2:03 pm

I completely agree with your assertion that the political parties in the United States are overdue for realignment. The distrust of our current political party leaders, such as former DNC chair Donna Brazile, is prevalent in current political and governmental discussions, showing the need for a revamp. Your points about the younger generations having more of a voting impact are also important to the idea of generational replacement. As the current generation of ‘young people’ matures and gains the ability to vote, our two political parties must adjust their opinions and stances to fit that of the developing electorate. If our parties cannot evolve with the times, they will disappear from view, just like the federalist and anti-federalist parties from early America. The evolution of American politics is key to the functionality of our democracy, and thus Democrats and Republicans alike must change their political stances to meet the times.
Austin Liptrot says:

December 4, 2017 at 11:11 pm

The 2016 election seemed to be a critical intersection for political realignment. Elections platforms drastically changed from both side, to a much greater extent in the Republican Party, to reveal new and pressing issues that the public has pivoted to. You accurately pointed out that Trump embodies a new political sentiment that takes a relatively large divergence from the Republican Party’s previous stances. The jump from previous republican nominees like Romney and McCain to Trump represents the beginning of this. In the Democrat party, we saw Bernie Sanders, who failed to embody many of the ideals central to the Democrat Party for the previous years. You say that we are in need of a political party realignment because of the changing wants of the people, however, I believe that we are currently in the thick of this change. The next elections will show how the two parties react to the Trump presidency, and likely continue to nominate people who dissent from many of the historical policies of their party in new ways.
Grant Golden says:

December 4, 2017 at 11:48 pm

The parties are for sure in need of realignment. As the leader of the free world and priding ourselves on our democratic government, the fact that so many people are dissatisfied and/or not having their voices heard due to lack of representation is appalling. It also shows why their is so much turmoil in the country we live in today. With that being said, I do not know how this realignment would happen. I feel like their would be a very fine line for this. Austin touched on it in his above comment by saying that he feels we are already going through his change and for the most part i generally agree. So how much further can we go? I do not see us electing, or being able to elect, anyone more radical and irrational than President Trump. So I think Austin is right in the fact that we are seeing this change now for better or for worse and I don’t know how much further it can go.
Lauren Rothenberg says:

December 6, 2017 at 8:48 am

The consequences resulting from the United States’ current two party system definitely warrants realignment. As you mention, especially when considering the drastic effects spurred by generational shifts and replacement, realignment of the parties is imperative to, not only the success of our democracy, but also to national contentment with the government. I believe this is demonstrated in the most recent elections. Although Trump’s recent election resulted in an increased sentiment of disapproval and contention, I also believe that if Clinton had won similar tensions would arise. These two candidates were rather polar in their extremes and thus, although they did have strong supporters, also had many who opposed them and their ideals. Furthermore, both candidates were so extreme that many people who typically identify as either a democrat or republican sustained from voting. Realigning the parties will help shift the ideals of the parties to a less extreme platform more suitable to reap the support of supposed supporters.
Spencer Yacos says:

December 6, 2017 at 11:46 pm

Both parties are in need of realignment, but objectively with the older generation dying out the Republicans are in much worse shape compared to the Democrats. Older voters 80+ are overwhelmingly conservative as overwhelmingly Republican while the younger generations are far bluer. This is especially hard for current Republicans as under George W. Bush and now Donald Trump they’ve become more and more conservative, alienating themselves with a younger base. I’m not saying the Democrats don’t have a problem, as their leadership like Pelosi is historically unpopular, but all the trends seem to be going in a more liberal direction. If Republicans do not moderate their stances in the coming years they may be in for a rude awakening as the older guard begins to slip away and disappear.

Comments are closed.