Political parties have existed in America almost since its inception. They are basic to the operation of a democratic government and are by definition about the art and science of governing. Politics is fundamentally a way to sort out differences of opinion, so there will be disagreements – about policy at least. That being said, there are choices about which electoral systems are used to select and organize governments, and these can have important influences on how well they work.
For the most part of the second half of the twentieth century, our country effectively had four parties. Two branches of each the Democrats and the Republicans existed because each party had a conservative leaning and a liberal leaning wing. These four groups with various viewpoints had to cooperate to enact legislation; they required and enabled the necessary different viewpoints, negotiations, and civility to govern. Congress functioned, passing considerable major legislation with real bipartisan voting. So, while America didn’t actually have four parties, this situation proved the concept of needing more than two parties.
Around the mid-1990s, this semi-four-party situation began dissolving into a more rigid two-party state of affairs as some members left and new ones were elected. Leaders in congress amassed much more power for themselves, thereby leaving the other members with less meaningful roles. Bills began to be created by the elite and put before the membership in a hurried and non-transparent manner, further aggravating most members. Politics in congress was becoming a zero-sum game where every win for one party was a loss for the other. Bipartisan legislation of significance was almost a thing of the past. By around 2010, the two parties had hardened their stances to the point of being basically against whatever the other party wanted. The wild swings in ideological philosophy and legislative focus each time one party displaced the other in power stimulated efforts for the incoming party to undo what the previous party had done. These changes of direction definitely irritated the citizens. Doesn’t all this sound very familiar?
Our founders had anticipated many issues, protecting against their becoming serious with checks and balances among the three branches of government. But, they did not include in the constitution anything that specifically dealt with the present two-party standoff that has occurred within the legislative branch. Our present two-party system fosters two diametrically opposed points of view – and Gridlock!
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
See our website at www.solveamericangridlock.com for more analysis and solutions.
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