Some Thoughts on U.S. Political Parties

Political parties, in the context of U.S. politics, can be defined in several ways. Broadly, a political party is an organization of individuals dedicated to advancing and promoting a particular belief or set of beliefs. In this sense, a political party could be any one of the hundreds of groups that inhabit the U.S. political landscape, including the Libertarians, various kinds of Socialists, Greens, Communists, assorted fascist groups and even the modern Prohibition Party.

In reality, though, the United States has had a de facto two-party system throughout most of its history; while the names have changed, at any one time two particular parties tended to dominate. The Democratic-Republican/Federalist split eventually gave way to the Democratic/Whig division. When the Whigs split over slavery, the Republicans became the new opposition to the Democrats. Party policies and sources of support have changed over the years, but not the fundamental duality of the U.S. political party system. While third parties have often enjoyed successes of a kind, and may have even influenced the outcome of elections, only the two major parties have enjoyed and continue to enjoy effective power.

The political institutions established by the Founding Fathers created checks and balances that still help to insure this two-party dominance. The U.S. Senate is one example. The U.S. Senate was established to provide a mature, responsible “check” upon the expected wilder, popular passions of the House. Senators would represent the broad interests of entire states rather than the narrow, more partisan views of Congressional districts. The chance of having Senators too outside the political mainstream was expected to be slight, and this is still the case, Bernie Sanders excepted.

The most important institution, though, in insuring a two-party system is the Electoral College. Every few decades the occasional third party candidate such as George Wallace is strong enough to win entire states, but that is rare. To win electoral votes one must win entire states, and that is an impossibly difficult hurdle for most third party candidates. This is certainly less democratic, in that diverse voices are shut out of having effective power, but it does promote stability, and truly dangerous fringe candidates cannot win.

Our Founding Fathers would be pleased to see how their ideas have come to fruition. James Madison, who feared the divisive influences of faction, would surely be pleased with the stability of today’s U.S. political system. He would delight in the fact that our very large republic works against the divisive influence of small factions. Madison would also be glad to see that the checks and balances he advocated in Federalist 51 continue to keep the system stable. Washington would no doubt admire the efforts of President Obama to bring more bi-partisanship to the nation’s capital but would lament our many “entangling alliances.”