Essay On Political Polarization

For over 200 years people have argued about whether or not political parties are helpful, or even healthy. In 1879 during his farewell address the first president of the united states of American George Washington warned that….” The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it”. Even with all the controversy that surrounds, the American two-party- system hasn’t faulted, from challenges of third parties to changes in our society, it has again and again proven itself as a strong system. One good thing about the two-party- system is that each political party helps voters make sense of our country’s political scene, by working to get voters more involved by using specific platforms that are important to that certain party’s constitutes. So that voters can fully evaluate each candidate and choose the one they feel is best to be an advocate for the platforms that closely relate to their specific beliefs. On the bad side the two-party-system is just that, only allowing voters two parties to choose from, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, each with its own specific platforms, and its views on current issues. This limits choices of the voters by only allowing them to see the world in two colors, red for republican and blue for democrats, thus leaving out all the others on a color spectrum. At times it can be difficult to choose between the different parties,

The political system of America is very different from other developed and developing democracies. Most notable is the increased power bestowed on the upper house of the parliament, the extensive power held by the Supreme Court and the dominance demonstrated by only two major parties. In the United States, third parties have the least influence on the world’s most developed democracy’s political structure. In this democracy, people are under the US Constitution of the governmental system as well as state government and other units of local government. Local government entails counties, districts and municipalities. The evolution of the American political party system has come a long way; with Hamilton and Jefferson being regarded as the founder fathers of the modern party system. These were heads of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist groups in the 18th century of American politics. Ever since, the country has maintained a party system that has two main parties that are relatively stable. These are Democrats and Republicans and have remained in contest for election every time since the 1860 presidential elections. Initially, the Republican Party was the dominant party but the Democrats later gained dominance. However, the two parties became closely competitive and neither of them has been notably dominant since the 1970s (O'Connor & Sabato, n.d).

Today, politics vary drastically from what our Founding Fathers precedented in the genesis of the United States. September 19, marks the 208 anniversary of Washington’s Farewell Address, whether bad or for worse, George Washington’s insight is still relevant in today’s political stage of a dominant two political party platform. In George Washington’s Farewell Address, then former president Washington, states the possible weaknesses to unfold as a republic. The ideology of a political party with definite beliefs alters the opinions and pride held for the United States for the domination of one party. History within itself, has had multiple political parties for varying causes, however the split between the Democrats and Republicans, although

In his essay “Polarized Parties Are Good for America”, Matthew Yglesias asserts that the two-party system is ideal for America. He begins by stating that polarization is bad for elites, as it leaves little to no room for “self-styled players”. He then suggests that the two-party system is beneficial for voters, insisting that having clearly labeled candidates creates a “menu” that allows the masses to know what they’re voting for from the start. He concludes by stating that the problem isn’t in partisanship, but with the small number of parties. In this essay I will prove that the two-party system is bad for America.

Amidst the past eight years of lackluster economic advancement, America’s prowess and respect declining worldwide, increasing government involvement in daily lives, and a President seemingly unwilling to take a solid stance on a the global threat of terrorism, the transfer of power between political parties in the White House is not so stunning. Due to the two-party system, this is not an unprecedented phenomenon. The American people are constantly seeking a political party to garner their attention and adapt to changing times, opinions, demographics, and attitudes (Cohen) and this results in the alternation of power between the two key political parties.

Despite dysfunction proliferating the workings of its institutions, the American political system continues to function as originally designed: to limit government control beyond the basic protection of liberty. At face value, the dysfunction of the American political system is guilelessly attributed to party polarization. Yet, political faction, according to James Madison, is not necessarily a bad thing. Instead, he argues in The Federalist that it is an essential and effective feature of a properly structured government. Bessette and Pitney, Jr. support the idea that “strong partisanship…can be healthy for deliberation and democracy” (296). In Federalist 51, Madison suggests that because of human nature’s shortcomings coupled with the

The polarization of the political parties is a reflection of a country, not simply a government divided, but the country’s populous in growing further apart. Alan Abramowitz indicates the polarization of the Democrats and Republicans causes them to be on opposing sides on almost all issues and Washington reflects the growing division within Americans (714). Thus the major problem with Polarization and gridlock is not the simply the inability to pass the legislation when gridlock occurs but what it does to the morale of American citizens. D.J. Flynn and Laurel Harbridge completed two surveys in order to study how partisan congress affects public opinion. A result from the study indicated most people will accept legislation in favor of the opposing party than they will gridlock (885) and while more research is needed the result of their survey is gridlock does cause a decrease in the populist confidence in Congress (Flynn, Harbridge 890). It is clear something needs to be done to improve the mindset of the American people. One of the best ways to improve the mindset of the American populace is for them to become more educated. When the country was first established, people were not privy to every action the congress was taking as it happened, and therefore the quibbles within congress were not in the forefront of people’s minds. Even Melnick illuminated the fact that the populist is now bombarded with opinions about what is happing in Washington. He indicated when the constitutional convention took place the meeting was behind closed doors miles from constituents allowing them

The political climate today is increasingly becoming more turbulent as Republicans and Democrats volley for superiority in Washington. The two parties are becoming more polarized by the hour, and this is affecting the ability of the government to move forward and pass legislation and continue to improve America. The Senate is in a state of gridlock on some of the most important issues to the people of the United States to date, and yet the senators which the people elected are instead caught up in fighting the people on the other side of the aisle. They should be listening to what their constituents need and want. Today Republican senators are using filibusters, scare tactics, and even entire news networks

Political dysfunction is no surprise to the American Populace; in fact, today it’s almost expected. As we see with the fairly recent presidential elections between Republican Nominee [now president] Donald Trump and Democratic Nominee and Senator Hilary Clinton, our current political system is amuck. It is asinine, it’s crazy, it is viscous, and above all else, it is in shambles. This paves the way for the million-dollar question we are all left racking our brains to answer – what happened to us? This question, along with the answers to such is examined by author Mike Lofgren in his book The Party is Over, and is the topic of this essay paper. More specifically, today I would like to dive a bit deeper and explore the answer to a question a

With America now in its very earliest days of being a new nation, any and all actions taken by the government would have lasting impacts on the development of the country and, going forward, would set a precedent for the future. After the Revolution and signing of the Declaration of Independence, America was no longer a sparse group of colonies aggregated along the Eastern coast. America was the start of something entirely new and profound to the modern world: democracy. Because of its hot and fiery origins, the founding fathers of America and intellectuals of the age — whether war veterans or legislators — were very much divided on the vision of America’s future. Thus, the roots of political parties were set in the course of American history forever. From the period 1789 to 1800, political parties developed from an insurmountable difference in opinion in leading a nation. These stark differences and

For many Americans today, a feeling of dismay and despair is present whenever a conservation turns towards the political races happening this year. To the average American, this election has become a mockery of the electoral system. Philosophy is being replaced with stupidity and knee-jerk reactions, and it seems as though the political parties’ cater to the lowest denomination of intelligence. When one hears Democrats versus Republicans, demagoguery and division are usually among the first things that come to mind. This Center for Constructive Alternatives series explained the history behind the two parties, how situations like today came into fruition, and clearly alluded to an idea that the parties of old are crumbling.

It would be a falsity to claim that the United States was ruled primarily through the independent minds of its people. Rather, we can see the absolute appropriation of authority split between two parties; those ruled by the tiresome elephants or those who follow the jackasses. This system of division has been heavily disfavored by our Founding Fathers, especially by John Adams who had stated in his letter to Jonathan Jackson that, “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties…” (Adams, John). The evidence for this issue in todays culture is everywhere; from legislative wars between the executive and legislative branches, strong discourse among the people, and of course those campaigning against one another based on how they interpret marriage. This undeniable rise of partisan antipathy can be seen in Carroll Doherty’s article 7 things to know about polarization in America where recent PEW studies showcase that strong resentment within the Democratic and Republican parties towards each other has just about doubled within the last two decades alone (Doherty, Carroll). A situation that has caused much strife as it slows down the march of progress and implementation of proper legislation due to the lack of compromise this particular way of thinking promotes. Uprooting this tired system will require a solid understanding of its early development, an examination of its advantages and disadvantages in modern politics, and the

Lately, America has become divided by a single issue; one which appears to be so polarized, that no one can compromise on it. Just kidding, there are a lot of those kinds of issues americans can’t agree upon. We are separated by race, language and ideas. Continuously homogenized and then filtered apart again into different groups and identities. So many conflicting interests clashing against each other in a never ending battle. Yet despite all that, America is held up as a pillar of democracy, freedom, liberty, opportunity; in America, you can be anything you want if you work at it. This is what we are lead to believe, if you work hard enough eventually you will be rewarded and make money. This may or may not be true but it’s beside the point.

The period between the civil war and World War two were seen to carry a more centralized policy agenda between the two parties. Since World War two, the author concluded that the ideologies have split very quickly, and that is because of the lack of the Southern Democrats in this century. The author saw this as a problem, because hostility between the parties is on a continuous climb. Growing aggressiveness between the parties is negative, because the parties will have a much more difficult time coming to a conclusion on how to agree on things, in this author's

Democratic or Republican, the mention of these two words during a normal election brings the word “Polarizing” to mind. Notably, both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald J Trump are polarizing figures to the opposing party and within their respective parties. The United States Constitution only gives three requirements for the office of president; that leaves the vetting and comparison of the presidential candidates up to the people of the United States. For citizens that care about their vote even when the candidates are not their primary choices the best option is to keep to the basics; to avoid getting bogged down in the politics keep the examination simple and on the personal candidate.