Bertschi Wrigley Alex Bertschi Wrigley Ms.

Kirschner AP English 26 November 2012 The Merits of a Multi-Party System

One of the few countries that is governed by two political parties, the United States needs to change from this archaic system to a more modern and democratic multi-party system. Currently the United States employees a two-party system that also means that, the outcome of elections is based on the plurality, winner-take-all principleBecause voters know that minor parties cannot win any electoral votes, they often will not vote for minor-party candidates, even if the candidates are in tune with them ideologically (Schmidt 174). The system referenced is called the Electoral College and for progress to be made in Washington, certain aspects of it must be abolished. The Electoral College creates the problem of inaccurate representation of the people. In forty-eight out of the fifty states, the politician with the greater popular vote carries the state. Through this system it is entirely possible to win all the electoral votes of a state with less than fifty percent of the popular vote. By apportioning electoral votes based on the percentage received, a more representative government would be elected. One major disadvantage with the current two-party system is that it stifles democracy and cannot be considered true political freedom as Lisa Jane Disch wrote in The Tyranny of a Two-Party System: It identifies popular sovereignty with choice, and then limits choice to one party or the other. If there is any truth to Schattschneider's analogy between elections and markets, America's faith in the twoparty system begs the following question: Why do voters accept as the ultimate in political freedom a binary option they would surely protest as consumers? ... This is the tyranny of the twoparty system, the construct that persuades United States citizens to accept two party contests as a condition of electoral democracy.

Bertschi Wrigley Because Americans are unwilling to vote for a third-party candidate that agrees with their own

philosophy, they are left with the lesser-of-two-evils quandary. In a multi-party system, Americans would vote for the politician they identified with leading to greater participation in elections and a true representation in Washington of the political beliefs of the American public. Criticisms of the multi-party system stem from examples such as the Italian parliament of the 2000s in which the multitude of political parties created a gridlock of ideologies that made it impossible to complete any meaningful work. This would not occur in the United States because, as in England, Spain, and other countries, two parties would emerge from the rest. Just as the Labour and Conservative parties play a leading role in England, two parties would emerge as the leaders in America. This would not mean a return to the two-party system, as it would still be possible for any party to win an election with enough support. For America to return to the democracy envisioned by the Founding Fathers, the two-party system must disappear and the electoral college must changed. Once this happens, America will flourish as a haven for all political ideologies and perhaps truly be known as a land of opportunity.