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... ory nominating process has also contributed to the Republican and Democratic domination of electoral politics for over 140 years 1. By winning party nominations through primary elections, voters can gain access to the general election ballot and thereby enhance their chances of election victories without having to organize third parties 1. Thus, the primary-nomination process tends to channel dissent into the two major parties and makes it unnecessary for dissidents to engage in the difficult business of forming a third party. Once on the ballot these third party candidates face another hurdle. They are routinely and arbitrarily barred from public debates.
Usually the stated reason is that they don't have "a reasonable chance of winning the election, " as the Commission on Presidential Debates told Ross Perot. This nonpartisan governing body, which includes former chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties, excluded Perot from the 1996 presidential debates even though he had pulled nearly 20 million votes in the previous election. Ralph Nader was also barred from the presidential debates in this election, even though he did end up receiving a large amount of support. Many of the problems of the two party system today were predicted by a group of scholars a few years ago. In its report titled, "Toward a More Responsible Two-Party System, " the committee on political parties of the American Political Science Association said that there were four dangers to our democracy that warrant special emphasis 4. Dangers that they predicted would become more heightened unless the weakening of our party system was addressed.
The first danger, the report said, "is that the inadequacy of the party system in sustaining well-considered programs and providing broad public support for them may lead to grave consequences in an explosive era 4. " The weakness of our party system has made it difficult to establish support for long-term enterprises that need to be accomplished at home and abroad. The task of supporting international economic development, of constructing a stable world peace, of building a strong domestic economy and equitably distributing its products and wealth, of reforming our governmental structures and finding adequate resources for our urgent national needs cannot be accomplished by a single Congress or a single President 4. The country has paid a high price for the volatility and limitations of our governing coalitions. Countless programs have been launched, but funds to finance them have been withheld. Commitments made by Congress have been vetoed or impounded by a President. No party has been able to move ahead on its own agenda for very long, and the result has seen years of government by fits and starts, with a mounting backlog of unkept promises and unmet needs 2.
The second danger, the APSA committee said, "is that the American people may go too far for the safety of constitutional government in compensating for this inadequacy by shifting excessive responsibility to the President. 4 " The weakness and frustration of responsible party government at the state and local level are more serious than at the national level. This has caused most of our major issues to go to Washington for rulings. In Washington, power has increasingly been stripped from Congress and the departments and been centralized in the White House 4. The sustained support that a responsible party system could provide for passage and implementation of a long-term program, however each of the last four Presidents have been forced to manage their governmental policies and strategy on a day-to-day basis 4.
Hoping that some temporary alliance would permit them to overcome the innate stillness of the vast governmental system. As the APSA committee predicted, this situation has produced the type of ''president who exploits skillfully the arts of demagoguery, who uses the whole country as his political backyard, and who does not mind turning into the embodiment of personal government 4. " But even the highly personalized presidency of our era has not managed to cope successfully with the problems challenging America. We have seen with the current election that neither candidate was able to sway enough votes from rival party lines to claim the presidency. The two party system makes it difficult to gain votes from across party lines, therefore requiring a unified party and high voter turnout to win the presidency. The third danger, the APSA committee said, "is that with growing public cynicism and continuing proof of the ineffectiveness of the party system, the nation may eventually witness the disintegration of the two major parties. 4 " The dissatisfaction, which exists in the two party system, is apparent in many ways. The decline in voting, the rise in the number of voters who refuse to identify themselves with either party, the increase in ticket splitting, a device for denying either party responsibility for government, and the increased use of third parties or informal political coalitions to pressure for change 4.
Ralph Nader was able to capture the dissatisfaction that many voters had with the two major candidates and take away votes that could have gone to either Gore or Bush. The fourth danger, the APSA committee said, "is that the incapacity of the two parties for consistent action based on meaningful programs may rally support for extremist parties, poles apart, each fanatically bent on imposing on the country its particular panacea 4. " Unfortunately, we have seen altogether this type of political polarization. This has been an era of confrontation politics. The concerns for us now are the rising level of public frustration with government and politics.
Today, it is not just a few students who believe the political system is not working. There are many Americans who recognize that government is not dealing with the problems that are common in their lives. These issues include crime, drugs, war, taxes, employment and social security. Another problem of the two party system is the many instances where voters stray from voting for one candidate 1. Instead of voting for a candidate, they may be voting simply against another candidate.
They are choosing the lesser of the candidates, by choosing the one that offends them the least, not judging on the qualifications of the two. However, the argument that may have the most stature lies in the fact that nowhere in the constitution are political parties mentioned. This argument should take a major role in the determination to rid government of political parties. The reformation of the two party system has been debated for a long time. It has been suggested that the entire system be abolished 2, where the country has no political parties. The Democrats and Republicans will continue to thrive in this country.
As long as the media continues to devote a majority of their airtime to the major parties, the issue of reforming the system will never become a major topic of concern. Until a third party candidate can gain the necessary support to receive federal matching funds the major parties will continue to win all the major elections. In past elections, candidates like Ralph Nader and Ross Perot have been unable to gain the necessary percentage of the vote to receive the federal matching funds. Another option is to disallow all federal matching funds for candidates.
This idea would not work because of the large amount of donors that both parties have. The past election has seen both major candidates raise unprecedented amounts of money. In a sense the candidates who wins the presidency can be classified as buying the presidency, not winning it based on their own political strengths. Overall, the two party system will continue to be plagued by problems in this country. The current system will continue to be used until a third party can attain the necessary prominence to compete with the Republicans and the Democrats.
For a better government for future generations, one without the constant battles for political offices and without separation from the people, the country must look closely at what can be done to change the two party system. Bibliography: Works Cited Ruth K. Scott, Parties in Crisis: Party Politics in America (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1984). Byron E.
Shafer, The Two Majorities: The issue of Context of Modern American Politics (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1995). Frank J. Sorauf, Political Parties In the American System (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1964). Martin P.
Wittenberg, The Decline of American Political Parties (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990).
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Research essay sample on Ralph Nader Presidential Debates
