Political Moderates, By Morris P. Fiorina

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,

Generally speaking, anyone who lives in the United States of America knows that there are two main political parties—the Republicans and the Democrats. Having two main parties has its advantages and, of course, its disadvantages. For example, in By the People James E. Monroe and Rogan Kersh (301) point out having this type of system creates “predictability and stability.” However, they also declare (301) it can “lead to a gridlock.” This is not a new concept either as there has been a divide since the beginning of both parties. The two parties more often than not disagree on various issues, while rarely agreeing on what is best for the country.

The growing ideological gap between the United States’ two major political parties, in other words, rising levels of political polarization, has had a negative impact on American politics as it results in Congressional inefficient, public apathy, and economic inequality.

Political compromise is troublesome in American democracy even though nobody seemingly thinks it is essential. It is difficult for many reasons, including the late divide in political polarization that has been generally condemned. We argue that the resistance to compromise can 't be completely understood without some comprehension of the process itself, particularly in the U.S. Both Goodwin and Walter dive into this topic in their articles, “Political Bipartisanship Is a Concession of America’s Values” and “Bipartisanship Is Vital to Democracy”, respectively.

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.

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

As a young child, politics has always been a complicated idea that I could never wrap my mind around. Even knowing nothing whatsoever over politics and the government, I could still see that there was something truly wrong with politics, and as I grew older, I began to understand politics as it itself is in a state of dysfunction. The question at hand here is how and why this dysfunction is occurring in our politics today. For many experts, they have found that it can all be centered on one main topic. Even though many experts have various viewpoints when it comes to politics, many can agree that it is partisanship that is causing dysfunction in politics, however there are also those who believe otherwise.

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

Party Polarization is a defining feature of contemporary at both the elite and activist levels. Party polarization is defined as “the division between the two major parties on most political issues, with members of each party unified around their party’s positions with little crossover” (371). One explanation for party polarization is how the congressional districts are being sorted and how those districts play a role in the congressional elections. The congressional districts are drawn to favor one political party, republican or democrat, over another; in other words, they are “safe districts”. This is done by drawing a district in such a way that there is a clear majority of one party or the other. Lawmakers want to do this because it eliminates the competition within the general election.

The politics of the United States is one of the most advanced in the whole world. But even at this stage, the politics is dominated by pettiness that stems from partisanship. This has ensured that no issues is ever passed amicably through the national legislative housed. Every debate is viewed through the lenses of partisanship.

One of the greatest challenges to the development and implementation of public policy has been the inability of Congress and the president to overcome partisan polarization. This is evident in the many partisan clashes over policy between Republicans and Democrats in Congress and between Congress and the White House. Partisan polarization has become increasingly evident

“The argument that polarization in America is almost entirely an elite phenomenon appears to be contradicted by a large body of research by political scientists on recent trends in American public opinion. While there have been relatively few studies directly addressing Fiorina’s evidence and a growing body of research indicates that political and cultural divisions within the American public have deepened considerably since the 1970s. These studies have found that the political beliefs of Democratic and Republican voters have become much more distinctive over the past 30 years” (Abramowitz and Saunders

This book battles that underneath the excited activism of the sixties and the appearing quiet of the seventies, a "noiseless upset" has been happening that is slowly however essentially changing political life all through the Western world. Ronald Inglehart concentrates on two parts of this upset: a move from a staggering accentuation on material qualities and physical security toward more noteworthy worry with the personal satisfaction; and an expansion in the political abilities of Western publics that empowers them to assume a more noteworthy part in settling on imperative political

During the film “A House Divided” I saw Democrats and Republicans attacking each other because of different their political views and I saw this whole controversy pointless because nothing was being accomplished. The message I took back from watching this film is that both political parties should try to get together no matter where they stand on the political spectrum. Disagreements, division and bigotry will get this country nowhere. In my high school years I remember a political polarization I experienced; I was in a Government class and we were discussing the two different parties and I’m not sure how all the ruckus started but a huge argument broke.

Davis, Frost, and Cohen expand on a growing problem in American politics: gridlock. Increasingly over the last fifteen years or so, Washington has seen what the book calls a “partisan divide”. This means that politics have become so polarized on each side of the aisle, that it has caused a divide on how the country should be ran. The authors have worked extensively inside Washington over the last three decades, making this book high accurate on the events that have spiraled and created the lack of cooperation. They constitute this lack of cooperation on many different issues; including gerrymandering, money in politics, and the media. I will focus on those four developments as to what has caused this divide the most.