Two Party System Essay Example for Free

Two Party System EssayIt is comm scarcely argued that policy-making parties atomic number 18 becoming weaker and interest groups are becoming more powerful in America. Keeping these changes in mind, is it affirmable that the United States forget ever move away from the dickens- society clay and have three or more strong parties? In 1992, Texan billionaire Ross Perot won more suffrages than any three nigh society view for President ever had before. Coincidence, or will a sm entirelyer society ever become a strong equal drive to rule the United States, or indeed have an influential presence in Parliament? Statistics suggest that Americans are in favor of a ternary major force in their political scenario. According to a poll conducted by Angus Reid Global Monitor galore(postnominal) adults in the United States believe there should be a viable alternative to Republicans and Democrats, according to a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates for the Pew Research Cen ter for the People and the Press. 53 per cent of respondents believe there should be a third major political society in the country, up three points since June 2004. (Angus Reid Global Monitor, 2003).And according to VoteBuddy.com, 2006, more than two thirds of Americans want a third party because of the pursuance reasons Most people are simply aware that goernment of, by, and for the Democrats and Republicans has non been working they have runty idea why. Part of the reason is that neither party re on the wholey stands for what it used to. Instead, both of them have travel to the center in hopes of capturing the more moderate takers out there. A lot of people really unload having a party that represents the principles they believe in. Others have specific concerns that they believe have been aband sensationd by the one major party that ever showed any interest in them. (VoteBuddy.com, 2006).Indeed the voting trends of the past decennium or two have perhaps been common mood of this new trend towards a third, independent party. In recent years, Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, both representatives of independent parties, have gained a fairly large part of the vote over their Democratic and Republican competitors, not enough to cause worry to leaders of the two major parties yet, unless certainly more than in previous years.Also worth noting is the low percentage of voter widening at American polls. Are those who dont turn out to vote independent supporters who are just thinking that their vote will be wasted? Or are they so sharp with the system as it is that they dont feel they need to vote? Today, American voters give all kinds of reasons for not voting. The cost of being involved in the voting process is among them. On the one hand, many find it difficult to register and stay registered (moving means having to reregister), notwithstanding efforts resembling the federal motor-voter bill, which allows Americans to register small-arm renewing drivers l icenses, and popular pushes bid MTVs Rock the Vote campaign. (Hough, 2006)Others get turned off by the broad time commitment needed to follow the race. This years presidential preference, for warning, saw views jockeying for position nearly two years before the actual election. Unfortunately, instead of giving Americans more time to absorb the issues, according to results from the Vanishing elector Project, the long campaign has them tuning out. (Hough, 2006)You can make an argument for a long campaign, acknowledged Patterson, alone our data show its a disincentive. During the second week of the projects polling a full year before the election solitary(prenominal) 5 percent of Americans said they were paying a great deal of attention to the campaign. nearly 60 percent said they were paying little or no attention. By week three, despite heavy news coverage, Americans interest in the campaign actually declined. (Hough, 2006)Whatever the case is, a unbowed representation of political feeling in America will only be obtained once voter turnout is higher.An some other aspect which would make it hard for a third party to gain faculty is congressional opposition to third parties. Traditionally, according to Wikipedia, a two party system works as follows A two-party system is a form of party system where two major political parties dominate the voting in nearly all elections. As a result, all, or nearly all, pick out offices end up being held by candidates endorsed by the two major parties. Coalition governments occur only rarely in two-party systems, though each party whitethorn internally demeanor like a coalition. Under a two-party system, one of two major parties typically holds a majority in the legislature (or a legislative house in a bicameral system), and is referred to as the legal age Party.The other major party is referred to as the Minority Party. The leader of the majority party may be referred to as the Majority Leader, assisted by the M ajority Whip, and the leader of the major opposition party may be referred to as the Minority Leader, assisted by the Minority Whip. Two-party systems often develop spontaneously when the voting system used for elections discriminates against third or smaller parties, because the number of votes received for a party in a whole country is not directly related to the proportion of seats it receives in the countrys assembly/assemblies. (Wikipedia, 2006). We can see how a system structured in a way like this would make it truly difficult for a third party to prosper.In addition, some reports state that recounting itself shows opposition to third parties, which, at least for the current time, would make it very hard for a third party to achieve any sort of effectiveness in Congress. In BC Politics, Kevin Surbaugh (2006), reports that he has point in a Green Party document. He statesThis article is about the Democrats trying to pass a bill (HR 4694) that effectively seeks to ban any a nd all third parties, basically making it so only the Republicans and Democrats will have access to power. Its already difficult for an independent or third party candidate to gain ballot access, but this new bill would make it almost impossible.HR 4694 (Let the People break up Clean Campaign Act) would mean that the official nominees of parties (i.e., Democrats and Republicans) that had averaged 25% of the vote for House races in a inclined district in the last two elections would get full public funding.All others (i.e., third party and independent candidates) would be required to submit petitions signed by 10% of the number of people who voted in the last election to get partial funding, and 20% petitions to get full funding. The press release gives an example of the 2nd district in Missouri, where 10% of that district would be some 35,000 signatures, just to spend anything at all, including your/his/her own money.This is a bill that people of all parties should be concerned ab out. (Surbaugh, 2006).Surbaugh calls for actions from Americans to prevent this bill from occurring. by chance the best form of action they can take would be to present themselves at the polls and vote for the people that they want to vote for. Again, statistics show that Americans dont vote for independents because they are afraid that they will be wasting their vote. Terry Mitchell commented on this in July 2006 in an article called Voters are to Blame for abominable Politics, as followsOne of our biggest problems is our unwillingness to vote for independent or third party candidates. These candidates broadly speaking do not have obligations to party bosses or quid pro quo relationships with lobbyists like the major party candidates do. Very often, we will vote for the lesser of two evils, rather than an independent or third party candidate who might be much better.Of course, when you vote for the lesser of two evils, youre still voting for an evil. galore(postnominal) people feel like they would be wasting their vote by voting for any of those other candidates. This is simply not true. A voter only wastes his/her vote when he/she votes for someone he/she does not really like. Instead, we create a voting catch-22 for ourselves, i.e., no one will vote for Mr. Independent because he has no chance Mr. Independent has no chance because no one will vote for him. If enough people decided to start voting their conscience, we could break that vicious cycle. (Mitchell, 2006)When Americans go to the poll on 7 November 2006, there will not only be two parties on the ballot paper. Democrats and Republicans will be joined by the likes of the Constitution Party, the Liberation Party, interest groups such as the Green Party, and even the peaceableness and Freedom Party. How will the 45% of Americans who want a third party in Government vote? Indeed, will they vote at all? Once before we have seen how powerful an effective third party vote can be. Some have said that P erot cost George Bush the 1992 election.During the spring primaries in the big industrial states like New York and Pennsylvania, when attention might have been paid to Clinton and former calcium Governor Jerry Brown as they fought each other and debated a domestic agenda for the new administration, all the media covered was the undeclared candidacy of Ross Perot (Ieinsdorf.com, 2006).And did Nader cost panel the election in 2000? A closer look shows if Nader wasnt a choice, the 2.7% who supported Nader would have split so Gore would have picked up about 2% more support and Bush would have picked up an additional 1%. In a non-Nader race, Gore would have prevailed over Bush 50% to 49%. (Mike Hersh, 2003). This is indicative of exactly how much impact the third party vote can have, and the fact that these two events occurred in close succession are indicative that the public is slowly beginning to vote for who they actually want to. This suggests that art object there is still colos sal opposition, in the end a third party will prevail.In conclusion, we can see that while it may be that Americans are in favor of a third major political party in their country (the votes for Ralph Nader and Ross Perot in recent years are indicative of this, and not purely mirage), some reform is needed before this can happen. Is this trend to continue? The results of the upcoming election will be interesting. Americans themselves must actually go to the polls, and once there, they must vote for the candidates they actually believe the most in. congressional opposition to new parties also needs to be overcome and traditional two party system beliefs changed.While I believe that a third party will be prevalent in American politics in the future, I do not believe that it will occur very soon. The three determining factors Congressional opposition, low voter turnout, and voters not voting for who they really want, need to be overcome first.Works CitedAngus Reid Global Monitor, Ameri cans Want Third Major Political Party (2003), retrieved 6 Nov 2006 from the website http//www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItemitemID=11673Hersh, Mike, (2003) Did Nader Help Al Gore in 2000, retrieved 6 Nov 2006 from the website http//www.mikehersh.com/Did_Nader_Help_or_Hurt_Al_Gore.shtmlHough, Lory, (2006) The American Voter retrieved 6 Nov 2006 from the website http//www.ksg.harvard.edu/ksgpress/bulletin/spring2000/american_vote.htmlIensdorf, (2006) Perot Did not Cost George Bush the 1992 Election retrieved 6 Nov 2006 from the website http//www.leinsdorf.com/perot.htmMitchell, Terry, (2006), Voters are To Blame for Bad Politics retrieved 6 Nov 2006 from the website http//www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=11264Surbaugh, Kevin, (2006) Congress Planning to Shut down Third Parties, retrieved 6 Nov 2006 from the website http//blogcritics.org/archives/2006/02/11/034246.phpVoteBuddy.com, Our Vote is Held warrantor, 2006 retrieved 6 Nov 2006 fr om the website http//votebuddy.com/Wikipedia, (2006), Two Party System, retrieved 6 Nov 2006 from the website http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-party_system