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:
The Parties on the Eve of the 2016 Election: Two Coalitions, Moving Further Apart
In Election’s Wake, Partisans Assess the State of Their Parties