The Best System We Have – Does Government Work?

In nearly all facets of the American government system, it is commonly accepted that our practices are in no way the best possible option. There are plenty of countries that practice certain things in their governmental systems that work better for them than the American practices would. However, the practices within the United States have remained the way they are because the systems in place are the best options for the United States. I am in no way in favor of the current electoral college or two party system. I don’t believe that it in any way truly represents the opinions of the voters, nor do these parties truly represent the ideological differences of many politicians within them. The people who suffer the most from this system are those who are forced to vote for certain candidates simply because they disagree with the other major candidate more. The two party system is massively flawed and I believe it goes against the original design of the democratic republic. In these elections, the umbrella terms of “Democrat” and “Republican” cover such a vast array of political views that some candidates within your own party are further from your own views than those of the opposite party.

This extends even into the politicians themselves, which is perhaps best seen in the conflicts between President Trump and Congress, despite both houses belonging to the same party as the President. Were the members of the Republican Party truly of one ideology, their dominance of Congress and possessing the Presidency would theoretically allow them to pass any law that they chose. However, this is obviously not the case, as Trump has now experienced two government shutdowns within three weeks of each other. To me, this points out a failure of our system that leaves a good portion of the population unable to exercise their rights within the system.

Most partisans donât agree with their party on at least one issue

To remedy these issues, I believe that dissolving the current parties would greatly increase the effectiveness of the political system. In its stead, I would propose a system of at least four parties that can be elected to any major office. This would have its strongest showings in Congress, as voters would be able to vote for candidates that more closely resemble their own views. I believe that the election of the President would be slightly more difficult, but if the primaries were run to whittle down the candidates from a large pool down into the two most popular candidates, it could provide a slightly better representation of how the people of the country really feel.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/09/look-back-at-every-government-shutdown-in-us-history.html

Langley Crisp says:

April 24, 2018 at 9:38 pm

Brett,

I appreciate your thoughts. I agree with you that the two-party system is not completely effective. However, I do believe that is it the most effective political system we could have. A three-party system does not work given our political climate. Every third party candidate that runs for President ends up with a small portion of votes. A third-party will never be dominant because of the political structure. The Republican and Democratic parties are essentially businesses because of the massive funding the receive and the loyalty that exists within the parties. A third party could never receive the kind of funding that the two-party system produces. Also, people are unlikely to vote for a third party because it is seen as a wasted vote. A third-party never receives enough votes to win. Therefore, by not voting for one of the two major parties, a person is essentially wasting their vote. For example, during the 2016 election, a vote for Gary Johnson was seen as a vote against Hillary Clinton by those who supported her and were angry about the outcome of the election.

I believe that to put a system in place where the dominance that the two major parties currently posses is dissolved would be extremely difficult and seemingly impossible. Therefore, I disagree with your argument that dissolving the current parties would greatly increase the effectiveness of the political system.

Also, while I agree that Congress is still not extremely effective at passing legislation, a multi-party system within Congress would make voting and passing legislation even more inefficient. Currently, there exists party loyalty. A member of the Republican party is likely to vote for a conservative piece of legislation even if they do not completely agree with it because they owe loyalty to their party. If there were four or more parties, the loyalty factor would be irrelevant. If all members were loyalty to their party in a multi-party system, a majority would still be very difficult to get and also, less people would be in agreement with the majority.

Thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate the ideas you wrote.

Stephanie Ellicott says:

April 24, 2018 at 11:52 pm

Thank you for your post, Brett

I slightly disagree with your point that stated, “The people who suffer the most from this system are those who are forced to vote for certain candidates simply because they disagree with the other major candidate more.” I feel that this was especially an issue in the 2016 election, but not in the way that you are assuming it to be. Those who did not agree with Trump’s proposals during his campaign and agreed with some of Hillary’s proposals decided to not vote because they believed that was better than voting for Hillary. This in turn was nearly casting a vote for Trump due to the very issue with 3rd parties having nearly zero legitimate power.

Furthermore, I also think it is important to mention that the disconnect between Trump and his administration (specifically Congress) could be primarily due to the nature of Trump’s presidency. Although in the past Congress and the president have most definitely disagreed on concepts, it is especially apparent that members of Congress who may share the same political affiliation definitely do not share the same ideologies and beliefs that President Trump does. Whether or not this is can be damaging to our country or not is up in the air. In my opinion, it is.

Again, thank you for your post. I enjoyed reading it.