Two Party System Research Paper

A political party is a group that supports a candidate to run for office. It helps connect the voters to the government by letting them choose and campaign for who they want to represent them. In order for a democracy to work there needs to be at least two different parties in the election. The difference between a political party and an interest group is mainly that interest groups do not have a nomination process they have to follow. The functions of a party range from nominating candidates/helping them win the election to organizing functions for government officials. Each party brings its own set of ideas and beliefs.

The two-party system is the United States two dominating parties that primarily get elected in each election. The first party system we had in place was the

Federalists and Democratic Republicans which lasted until 1824. Then came the second party system which was Democratic Republicans and Whigs this lasted until 1852. These major parties are now the Republican Party and the Democratic Party and they have been around since 1856. We have kept this system in place for so long because of the electoral system it sets the direct rules for parties to follow.

It also goes by major representation which is when one candidate wins by collecting the most votes. Proportional representation is which grants legislative seats to each party according to the total number of votes they win in the election. An example of this would be if the party got 40 percent of the vote then its first four candidates would be elected. According to PewReserchCenter, 54 percent of U.S voters registered as Republican and percent as Democrats meaning these two parties will likely take the majority vote (PewResearchCenter). Anothor reason for a two-party system is our history of political socialization, they have been around over 100 years and have a lead on structuring the votes. This makes it hard for a third-party to come in because the other two parties being in office for so long make laws to add difficulty for a third-party to get on the ballot. For example, they now require petitions with thousands of signatures for anyone who wants to be a third party candidate. They also require the party to receive at least five percent of the vote in the last election in order for them

to receive any type of federal funds. Another reason is because these candidates do not qualify for most of the debates which would be huge publicity for them as well as a great platform to preach their campaign. Some people also think if they vote for a third party candidate their vote will not matter since a third party never wins, it seems more reasonable to choose between two candidates. People also feel a very strong loyalty towards a certain party and find it hard to stray from what they have always been a part of. All of these things make it extremely difficult for third party candidates to make headway in the elections.
Even tough third parties do not have a high success rate of getting candidates elected they can still affect politics in a number of ways. They introduce new ideas that can influence new policies and practices. An example of this would be how the Populist Party influenced ideas for some economic policies of the New Deal. A third party can also spoil the election meaning it might be able to draw enough votes away from a particular candidate and cause the other one to win. They also do a good job of calling out the major parties on facts or issues they wish to ignore during their election. They force the major parties to address possible schismatic problems by emphasizing it in their own campaigns. For example, when Ross Perot (an independent candidate) emphasized the budget deficit in his campaign then that’s when Bill Clinton and George H.W Bush finally started addressing the subject. So in a way the third party is there to keep the two major parties in check.
The third party I choose to examine is the Green Party of the United States which was founded in 1984 by Howie Hawkins. It is one of the largest third parties the U.S has. The Green Party can be classified as a party of ideological protest because they hold protest and favor Government action to protect the environment. Everything they do is based off of their “four pillars” which are peace, ecology, social justice, and democracy. They also have ten key values which are labeled as: grassroots democracy, social justice and equal opportunity, ecological wisdom, non-violence, decentralization, community based economics, feminism and gender equity, respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, future focus and lastly, sustainability. They also have a strategic plan located on their website which entails four major goals. The first one being increasing membership and diversity, secondly running and electing more candidates, third achieving more positive awareness of the party, and lastly more effective issue advocacy and policy development. The hopes for this is to make a way for the Green Party to progress their political agenda and gather the support of many more people.
According to the Green Parties official website they have more than 100 elected officials around the United States. For the 2016 presidential primaries they supported Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka which was unsuccessful. Jill Stein actually came in with the lowest poll numbers in the election with Trump ultimately coming out on top. However, they do have a lot of representatives elected for smaller elections such as for city council, school districts, and mayors.
The Green Party promotes environmental issues as well as upholding peace, diversity and nonviolence. The party supports a woman’s right to abortion and should be covered by any health care system in the U.S. They also support equal high quality education as well as equality for all no matter what gender they identity as. The Greens support the rights of all individual to choose significant others regardless of their sexual orientation. They also support the idea of universal health care for everyone. The Green Party firmly believes in the separation of church and state but makes it clear that everyone should be able to practice any religion of their choosing. The death penalty is a worldwide opposition for the Green Party, as well as any form of hate crimes. They also oppose the privation of Social Security. The Green Party does not receive any funding from any corporations instead they get small contributions from memberships and donations to keep their organization afloat.
After doing my research on the Green Party I would disagree with the notion that U.S third parties are unsuccessful about getting their candidates elected in office. The Green Party has helped get a big number of their candidates elected in small elections. At the moment there are at least 133 Greens in office in 19 states. However, if we are just talking about big Washington elections they have not been so successful. I believe if their number of elected officials keep rising they will eventually have a member of their own running an office in Washington. The more people they have working on their side only better their chances of winning a battle against the two dominate parties.