This piece is about the change in American politics over the last few decades to having a more conflict-driven political system between the Democrats and Republicans, and looks at why that is and what it's doing to people. The very useful and lovely sources for this were Shadow Proof, Pew Research Center, and Roger Darlington, as well as whatever was floating around in my head when I picked this subject and proceeded to write two-thousand words on the subject.
Hope you enjoy! It's an interesting subject to my way of thinking. Have yourself a lovely day, and see you tomorrow at eight AM for more! Hopefully! Kinda playing music live tomorrow; if that goes poorly, who knows what state of mind I'll be in. I bet I'll do great. Find out on the next episode of Menagerie of Miscellaneous!
Polarization of America's Politics by Mackinley Clevinger, June 6, 2016
The political system of the United States of America is in constant conflict between its two parties: The Republicans and The Democrats. Unlike other democracies, with numerous parties that represent all the interests of the population, America has come to only have two political parties whose policies stand in stark contrast to one another. The Democratic party is viewed as the liberal party, and the Republican party as the conservative one. Any other political group is considered to be Independent, and has next to no presence in the political landscape of America, except for in very rare cases. Quite simply, to make any headway in the political field of America, you have to be a part of one of these two parties.
These two parties have turned America into a battleground, fighting each other by trying to place more of their own people in the Congress, Senate, and, ultimately, the White House so that their party’s policies can be made into law instead of the opposing party. This has split one of the largest and strongest countries in the world between two radically opposed viewpoints that both try to exert their policies on a divided country; this divide only widening as time progresses while each party grows further from both one another and working as a unified government to make their country a better place. They both believe that theirs is the only way, a way that is finding less and less in common with the only other political entity with any weight in the United States of America.
America’s political system is unique from other democracies, says Roger Darlington. and this unique approach to their democracy has led to some of the problems being faced today. The political structure of America is made up by three branches, the, the Legislature, and the Judiciary. These three branches operate under a system of checks and balances that give each branch power over the other two to ensure that no one body of government gains complete autonomous control over the country, like the monarchy that America had just revolted against. All government positions in these branches are filled by people that are voted in, usually by a public election.
America’s voting process eliminates the possibility for more than two parties by having a ‘first past the post’ system, which gives the position to the first person to receive the majority of the votes as opposed to assigning seats in government in proportion to the voters’ interest in each of the running parties as many other democracies do. Additionally, there are very few limitations on the money that can be poured into a person’s run for office, allowing the established man or woman with the full weight of their political party behind them to easily squash any competition and maintain the same position until they quit, except for the presidency which only allows two four-year terms. America only having two political parties to fill the seats in all three branches of government turns these elections into a fight between Democrats and Republicans to obtain the majority in as many branches as they can so that their party has enough control to either stop the other, or put through their own policies unopposed.
While this system may have worked for the country for some time, recently a study by the Pew Research Center has found that the two parties have become far more polarized from one another, as well as far more antagonistic. Over the past two decades, the number of Americans that have held either consistently conservative or liberal opinions has doubled, reducing the shared-policy of these parties and making the average Republican more conservative than 94% of Democrats, and the average Democrat more liberal than 92% of Republicans. Among members of either party that are highly engaged in politics, 70% take positions in line with their party’s policies. In addition, the number of people who hold unfavorable opinions towards members of the opposing party has more than doubled in the last twenty years, the majority also believing that the opposing party’s policies represent a threat to America’s well-being. The middle ground between these two parties is also shrinking, the 49% of people with both liberal and conservative views in 1994 dropping to 39% in 2004, and to top it all off, most Democrats and Republicans believe that any kind of compromise between the two parties should favor their own policies as opposed to a balanced approach to the issue of the day.
A Shadow Proof article by Jon Walker said that 46% of Americans agreed that the country needs a third party to challenge the Democrats and Republicans, however the inherent system of America doesn’t allow for that due to its ‘first past the post’ style of elections, giving the position to the majority-holder of votes. If there were several Conservative candidates in an election and only one Liberal, the Conservative side could receive more votes and still lose because they were split between multiple candidates while a single Liberal received all of their side’s votes. This majority system frowns upon more than two candidates, especially in a predominantly two-party country where the presence of a more left-leaning Conservative could easily ‘steal’ votes from either side and ‘give’ the election to someone who received fewer votes than their political rivals.
With a system that only allows for two candidates, the two-party system is reinforced with every election and no real choice is available to the voting base besides the same pick between Democrat or Republican over and over again, where they support policies and views they may not agree with because there are no other choices available to them. This gives free reign to both parties to do whatever they like, their every action given the tagline ‘we’re still the better choice’ and forcing voters to support them because there are no other choices available. A change to voting laws is a necessity to give voters any kind of real change or choice in their elections, the ‘first past the post’ system a major roadblock between true voting freedom.
From the viewpoint of a Symbolic Interactionist, American politics have turned the two parties into symbols for the people that demand a personal, emotional attachment as opposed to a rational approach to policy and actions undertaken by the two political sides. To the followers of either the Democratic or Republican party, their side represents the only way for their nation to prosper despite any and all evidence to the contrary by repeated policy-choices made by their pledged party. Many people vote a certain way simply because it’s what they’ve always done, or because they believe that their side is always good while the other side is always bad, with no room in the middle for complex policies or a particular individual not sharing the same views as the side they have been forced to pledge allegiance to because of the political machine of America.
It’s natural for people to attach meaning to things, and in a world as slow as that of politics it can be hard to look underneath the assumptions and attached emotions to realize that what something was ten years ago has changed considerably; case in point being the radicalization of both parties, Democrat and Republican, to be as polarized as they are now as opposed to twenty years ago when there was much more overlap between their policies. People often vote for ‘their party’ instead of the person they believe is a better choice because that is the mindset many people hold towards politics: just vote for your party and everything will be okay.
The powerhouse-presence of a political party backing up a prospective candidate, alongside the ‘first past the post’ voting system, has turned American politics into a sham that passes a crown between two parties that are growing more distant from what the American population actually wants and needs. The original intent of a three party system wasn’t to turn it into a battleground for control by two parties, but to ensure that no one person or group could have complete power over the whole and run a country against the will of its people. For any real kind of change to come about, proper representation of the voters’ interest must be made clear in the elected officials by not having a system that forces choice between two candidates (exampled by the Al Gore vs. George Bush election where Ralph Nader ran beside Al Gore, splitting their vote.)
Abolishing the ‘first past the post’ system and installing another voting method that allows for a population’s interest in a party to be made clear in the number of seats held by that party is a must, alongside reducing the intervention of powerful political parties from making an election a foregone conclusion by having more resources to pour into advertising and campaigning for a certain candidate. Many other countries have similar systems that don’t allow for nearly as much corruption as has been seen in the United States of America, and some level of mimicry of those countries would help fix the growing problem that is splitting America in two. Additionally, removing the symbol of the two parties from people’s minds and forcing them to acknowledge a party for its principles instead of for the emotional attachment they’ve developed over the years is key to having any real freedom of voting that takes policy into consideration instead of going with a gut feeling maintained over the years.
The United States of America is an incredibly diverse country filled to the brim with conflicting ideologies and beliefs, and yet somehow it has worked for centuries in developing itself into one of the strongest countries in the world. The two-party system has been alive since the nineteenth-century, and for years it worked due to common ground and a choice to work together despite opposing views. It is only in the last few decades that the country has become so split between Democrat and Republican, and more recent still that the two parties have grown apart as much as they have. It is this division that is putting a great deal of stress on the country, and only by giving voters more options and a say in the on-goings of their elected officials will the problems America face be fixed so that the country can run smoothly for the good of the people, by the people.