Disadvantages of the Two Party System

Chapter 9 within our book spoke on the American two party system. A political party can be defined as, “an organization that try’s to win control of the government by electing people to office who carry the party label”. Political parties therefore provide ways in which individuals can implement decisions on behave of the government. Additionally numerous opportunities within society are available such as freedom of choice, check on power, and the option to offer information to the public to make certain that the government carry’s out promises. Political parties are typically set up in a dual party system or a multi party system. Considering the fact that the United States has a dual party system, brings about a few disadvantages. This leads me to introduce the negatives of the dual party system in order for them to be focused on and eventually augmented.

In today’s day and age it seems as if the tensions between the Democrat and Republican parties are consistently growing. This leads to a division of the country into two hostile sides. By observing America as of now, one may see how the dual party system is failing. Republicans and Democrats never seem to be able to agree on important topics, therefore hindering the production of a logical response in regards to solving issues. For instance school shootings seem to be happening regularly as of late, yet the two sides cannot come to a reasonable agreement on how to fix this problem. Do we need more gun control? Furthermore, having only two dominant political parties limits the options individuals have to choose from when it comes to voting. Many people look at this as a positive due to simplicity of choosing from fewer people. However, two parties can be very limiting to those who do not find similar viewpoints.

Politics seems to always be associated with corruption no matter where you go. Many acts of patronage take place all across the world, including within the United States. Acts such as assigning government contracts to party insiders take place within the two party systems. One must also consider how funding plays a huge role in the decision-making. If a contributor invested a large portion of money to a campaign and that candidate ended up winning the election, then it is not difficult to see that the contributor will have their visions made tangible. With this is mind, over the last ten years Gallup has collected a survey asking citizens if they believe that corruption is widespread throughout the government within this country. Statistically, the result has never dropped below 65% corruption. Over half the people within this country believe that corruption is widespread throughout the government. Does the two party system have a factor in these results? I believe that it does indeed play a significant role.

http://news.gallup.com/poll/185759/widespread-government-corruption.aspx