The two party system is taken as more or less an icon of our American politics. It's driven into most of us by an early age that the two main political parties in America are the sine qua non, the be all and end all of American politics. But it's actually unusual for a nation to divide into only two political parties. In many other countries, there's often four, five or even more putting up people for election. And perhaps, that itself might be an incentive toward a more fulfilled democracy, in those places.
For it seems to me the primary purpose of both of America's most national parties is merely to drive and focus voters in one particular direction. They have been at it for so long now, that the two polarities seem to be straining the population to the point of maximum saturation, in terms of propaganda and rhetorical frenzy. Extremes at the far left and far right begin to coalesce into blocs of more respective power, until those moderates who controlled "the center" of each are marginalized themselves, and the parties transformed beyond recognition. The liberal "Democratic" party toward more "cancel culture" and intolerance of opposing ideas, and the right "Republican" party toward more jingoistic and even authoritarian law n' order tropes. When I grew up it was more a given that Democratic presidents initiated more wars and supported the Blob, or M. I.C., as it's come to be known, and that while Republicans rarely if ever started any, they merely set the stage for the next incoming Democrat. But now the Republican party are both the staunchest defenders of military blob spending and the most vocal about pulling troops out of wherever we've managed to send their poor souls. A Democratic peace movement at the moment seems like merely a 60's memory.
These divisions of American culture in to these two and separate factions- an intellectual "elite" that looks down their nose at "plain country folks" and ignores realities and grievances, while still claiming to support "the working class", and the other, a population that see outwardly only greater and greater government and corporate intrusion on their personal lives and "educated fools" who want to tell them how and what to think-these divisions are the product of two parties, and two parties alone.
For what do other political parties add to the discussion? Quite a bit. There are always a large portion of Americans in any election who have been made to feel so tired of the cant and rhetoric of the majors that they deign to remain outsiders. Third parties never collect more than about 6-7 % of any national vote, but what they do and do well is serve to remind the major parties of just where their programs, platforms, and candidates are lacking. Without third parties, how will either Democrats or Republicans manage to improve on those arguments and grievances their own party is ignoring, often much to its own peril? That is why I believe that acceptance for third parties- the more the merrier! would be better for our democracy than joining one of two herds of lemmings, each streaming past the other to an indefinite coastal cliff, from sea to shining sea.
This common complaint of our national seeking unity blinds itself to the reason we can't seem to find it- because these two political organizations, with no real other raison d' etre than to get, maintain and keep control of power, are the very source of the disunity itself. Free yourself from party affiliations, labels, and all the various silly constructs of ego that help to keep you confused in this age of more information-than-you-can-eat. Think for yourself, believe in yourself- & be the change that you want to see.
