Two Party System Essay

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Recommended: American two party political system

Most democratic countries have more than one political party, but The United States seems to still have just two dominating ones. Minor parties have always have a tough time trying making it onto ballots, being recognized on a grand scale like democrats and republicans, or even making it to the white house. While there are some advantages to having a two-party system such as simplicity, There seems to be more disadvantages that comes with it such as the self-perpetuating cycle that allows the two parties to continuously reign over all others. A gross oversimplification is that there were initially the federalists and the anti-federalists. Perishing with Alexander Hamilton were the anti-federalists, and the failure of John Adams as a president went the federalists (Engel). The democrats and the republicans sprouted up and took place of everything. A candidate can win by gaining a plurality, which is more votes than the other candidate. This is a winner-takes-all system, simply because second place doesn’t reap any rewards. That is why parties aim to be as big as possible. The electoral rules favor a two-party system, which is why …show more content…

Such stability is thought to promote economic growth. Another advantage is moderation. Both democrats and republicans must appeal midway, resulting in finding common ground on positions on many issues and gaining large amounts of voters in the process. Both dominating parties in the US are encouraged to stay somewhat moderate, which keeps either side from swingeing majorly conservative or liberal. The simplicity of having just two parties is considered an advantage to some. Voters only have to choose between two parties most of the time. It is said that there is more harmony and less unruliness with two parties as opposed to multiparty systems (Shmoop). Hung legislators are common with multiparty systems, as opposed to just having two

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