The Merits of the Two Party System

A response to FakeSagan on why I support the two-party system in the United States

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[NeverEnoughBall]

just a point... in canada we largely have a 4 party system... kinda... conservative party, liberal party, new democrat party, and the block(they're french. lol). conservatives and liberals are almost always in power with a minority government. the benefit of having more parties is you get minority governments... recently our prime minister was apparently fuckin everything up so we had a vote of no confidence... i think he stayed in i'm not sure, i was actually in the states..

just some info

[HeathMercer]

I understand that, but in the United States, due to the way our constitution is structured, all executive authority is vested in one party for a period of four years. It would take a massive changing of our constitution to allow for a no confidence proceeding, and amending our constitution requires a 2/3 majority, and the risk of doing that isn't worth the gain.

[NeverEnoughBall]

how is the risk not worth the gain?... what i thought before and what you just said kind of clarified this. you have a democratic dictatorship. vote for one of two guys to run the country for 4 years. i'm not saying Canada's system is oh so much better... just think being able to have the vote of no confidence should be completely expected of any democracy.

[HeathMercer]

Well, the main difference is that powers are separated. It isn't like the executive branch can just decree whatever they want. But in terms of things like law enforcement, environmental policy, and foreign policy, it's very much controlled by the executive branch.

[ThomasRosenkreuz]

The two party system is a manipulative lie.

It offers the ILLUSION of choice where there is NO REAL CHOICE.

[vernacularsnoop]

The video's creator is assuming that even with the rise of more parties, we would keep the same exact voting system. Instant-runoff voting, which is coming into use in cities across the US, would allow for multi-candidate elections and solve the problem of candidates winning without a majority. Proportional representation in legislatures would give parties seats based on their percentage of the vote, so all voters would be represented fairly.

[AmericaShouldBeFREE]

Me personally don't like the two party systems but didn't one of our greatest Presidents say "Beware the dangers of the two party system?" George Washington said that before he left office. He was right. Now it's about Democrats using race, religion to get elected and Republicans using false promises to get elected. I'm considered an Independent. The two party system has ruined the nation. Although T.R. was Democrat, he was thought to be considered "in the middle." Obama needs to leave office...

[DialecticalMortician]

And what's wrong with changing the Constitution? That's essentially what ammendments is add to the Constitution. We might have to radically restructure the Constitution to have a polity equipped with the PR system but again I don't fetishize the Constitution.

[DialecticalMortician]

This is a very strange argument since it assumes that moderation is always the best course of action in every political situation, especially if your living in a country with a political system where a large part of the electorate doesn't even participate. It's essentially a value judegement. And a government comprised of a multitude of parties would still have to reach some kind of compromise for this to occur, the parties would maybe even have to form coalitions.

[vernacularsnoop]

In the 2000 presidential election, 51.3% of voting-age Americans voted, and 47.9% of those voted for Bush. So the eventual president had the support of 24.6% of the populace.

We have checks and balances (such as the judicial branch) to prevent government from exceeding its limits, and bureaucracies to make sure things don't happen too fast. The job of elected officials should be to represent the voters, whether or not that entails being 'moderate' as this video has in mind.