partisan politics

https://youtu.be/3kIy_fWXyvs

What is the Two Party Political System?

Author: Timothy Bands
            The later posts will go into greater depths about the issue, but this introduction will prepare you to better understand the following posts. The first question to be addressed about the issue would be “What is a two party political system?” A two party political system is political system where issues of politics and representation of politicians are dominated by two political parties that are usually equal in power and status. To place in even simpler terms: In the United States politicians either associate as Democrat or Republican. Although, these are not the only parties that are involved in American politics, parties such as the Green Party, Libertarians, Socialists, Communists and Independents also take place in running for office, they virtually have no representation in American politics. 

What is the Difference between a “Democrat” and a “Republican”?

Author: Kaitlin Klumpp

         How much do you exactly know about the two parties in the United States political system? How about the fact that it used to be that the Democrats and the Republicans were complete opposites of beliefs and values and that would be reflected on their voting? If you do not know much about the political system, check out this cool video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pr-o_UsC2w 

www.blueorgeon.com/2009/11/what-did-the-independent-vote-tell-us/ 

This is what the old spectrum used to look like with the independents going back and forth between the each election based solely on the candidates platform. Nowadays though, this spectrum is completely different because on the left side you have communists, socialists and democrats; on the right side you have republicans, conservatives, and libertarians. 
     Let's start with the Democratic party. The Democratic party actually used to be the complete opposite of what it is today. From the start of the United States to about the end of the 19th century, the Democratic party was mostly in the South with the demographic of White plantation owners. After, the civil war when African Americans were given the right to vote, a lot of them started voting Republican and slowly the candidate/ parties started switching platforms to appeal to the demographics that were represented in their district, leading to the national level when it came to Presidential elections. The democratic party biggest thing on their platform is the redistribution of wealth and social equality. Their platform also, consists of government control, health car, poverty, economics, rights for LGBTQ community, "pro-choice" on abortion and the environment. 
     Now onto the Republican party also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP). The republican parties ideology is based off of Alexander Hamilton's ideology on economic and military affairs. The republican party main topics are social hierarchy, and natural rights. The other major topics on their platform are individual freedom, private property, the right to bear arms, small government, free market. Their beliefs are very Christian like because most of the GOP is in the South and in the South there is not much of a separation from church and state. They are "pro-life" because to them killing a fetus is murder. 

The Argument against the Two Parties Political System

Author: Timothy Bands

            The argument against this political issue must be discussed first before you are able to dive into the arguments for it. Well reading up to this point you might find that you in both the parties you favor both aspects of each ideology. Let’s say for example you believe in the Republican view of little government involvement but also believe the LGBT community should have rights. You believe both issues are equally important and you shouldn’t have to pick one, but unfortunately both issues are something that neither party is willing compromise on. The Republicans believe LGBT rights is a violation of religious beliefs, where the Democrats believe that government involvement is not an issue to tossed around and must implemented. Well now they have placed a situation when you vote you can be fully represented, there are no other parties strong enough to vote for. This seems like an issue to you. Let’s dive into the issue even deeper. Maybe you believe that the strongest thing that the government can do is compromise but when Executive and Congress are deadlocked on issues nothing gets done. Now, instead getting the best of both worlds, the United States gets none. Now you must ask “How can more than two parties fix this?” Here is explanation how. Well in the first scenario when issues can’t be compromised between the parties and you feel you don’t you are being represented, different parties can come and you are now allowed to vote for somebody that can represent your ideas. No longer must you be a slave to voting on support of certain issues while sacrificing the other. No in the second situation, the Republicans and Democrats are deadlocked and nothing is getting done. The votes necessary to make a bill pass or fail are stuck. Now enter another party or parties, instead of a Democrat trying to appeal to a Republican or Republican trying to appeal to a Democrat, now that small majority party can be that swing vote. Now the pusher of bill is forced to now include other political ideology to appeal to this small party to win their votes and now a bill isn’t forced to encompass just one or two political ideology but now more maybe three or more. Now here is something that is important to keep in mind, although both parties claim to stand for their noble, beliefs corruption runs wild between both parties. While both are wheeling and dealing with your political representation for power and money, you are forced to choose one side or another. You feel that both are equally corrupt and you don’t to support either. In come more parties no longer you have to choose between one of the two that you view as corrupt. Now let’s say in the rare situation that both Democrats and Republican both agree on controversial issue, most notably Marijuana Legalization. They are strong opponents of the issue and let’s just say you are for it. Now you are completely left with nobody to help you in your beliefs. In comes another party to help get this issue out there and fight for you. I know these aren’t more reasons but hypothetical situations but I believe this is the most important demonstration of viewing why a two party system is flawed. 

Third Party Candidates Influence in Elections

Author: Margaret Deering 

Third party candidates influence the two party system. People tend to not vote for third party candidates because they know that that candidate will not win the election. On the reverse some people vote for the third party candidate in opposition to both parties, making a statement against the two party system.

Here is a diagram that shows different third party presidents and their influence on elections

YEAR	PARTY	CANDIDATE	VOTE%	ELECTORAL VOTE	OUTCOME in Next Election
1832	Anti-Masonic	William Wirt	7.8%	7	Endorsed Whig Candidate
1848	Free Soil	Martin Van Buren	10.1	0	5% of the vote, absorbed by Republican Party
1856	Whig-American	Millard Fillmore	21.5	8	Dissolved
1860	Southern Democrat	John C. Breckinridge	18.1	72	Dissolved
1860	Constitutional Union	John Bell	12.6	39	Dissolved
1892	Populist	James B. Weaver	8.5	22	Absorbed by Democratic Party
1912	Progressive	Teddy Roosevelt	27.5	88	Returned to Republican Party
1912	Socialist	Eugene V. Debbs	6.0	0	Won 3% of the vote
1924	Progressive	Robert M. LaFollette	16.6	13	Returned to Republican Party
1948	States' Rights	Strom Thurmond	2.4	39	Dissolved
1948	Progressive	Henry Wallace	2.4	0	Won 1.4% of the vote
1968	American Independent	George Wallace	13.5	46	Won 1.4% of the vote
1980	Independent	John Anderson	6.6	0	Dissolved
1992	Reform	H. Ross Perot	18.9	0	Won 8.4% of the vote
1996	Reform	H. Ross Perot	8.4	0	Did not run
2000	Reform	Ralph Nader	2.7	0	Ran Next election
2004	Green	Ralph Nader	1.0	0	--

http://www.thisnation.com/question/042.html

             Although sometimes third party candidate can have an effect on the election, in the election of 1912 Theodore Roosevelt received 27.5 % of the popular vote, the highest in election history received by a third party candidate. He won 6 states while the incumbent Republican president Taft only won 2. The rest went to the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson. Wilson ended up winning the election especially because of his 82% Electoral College vote. While Roosevelt only earned 16.5 % but still passed Taft who only had 1.5 %.

This website shows the election results:

http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/etats/1912.gif

         This election makes a point that when campaigned correctly a third party can have an influence on the election. Roosevelt did just that, more then one in every four people voted for Roosevelt. That had a large influence on the reelection of Taft. People who might usually vote Republican instead decided to vote for Roosevelt who was running on the progressive platform. In addition people who might have voted for Taft in the past saw all of the confusion in the Republican Party and they decided to switch to vote for Wilson. The election really worked out in Wilson's favor because without a strong Republican Candidate Wilson was the only influential candidate left. This however would not have happened if there were other candidates to choose from. This really identifies the two party system and how it can hinder or help a canidate in an election. 
         Of course following this election Teddy Roosevelt decided to change his platform to the Republican Party where he ended up winning the election. The fact that once Roosevelt changed his party he was elected also says something about our political two party system. It says that the system is so strict it is often hard to break though. When Roosevelt entered the two party system he was elected but before when he was not a part of it he was not elected.

             The reason in my opinion why third parties do not have as much of an influence on elections has to do with funding. There are people that always tend to fund the Republican Party or always tend to fund the Democrat Party. But there is not as much money available for Third Party candidates. Because less money given to them they cannot campaign as much as the other two parties. The media tends to report little to nothing about the third party candidates. Leaving them with less publicity and not giving them influence on the election. The presidential debate for example that takes place before every election ignores the third party candidate only allowing the democratic and republican candidate to dispute.