Dating back to the 1860s, there have been two dominant parties in the United States which are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. For every national election since then, they have been on the forefront by looking at the tyranny of numbers as well as considering the Presidents that have been elected to office. It is actually the presidential candidates from this two parties that become amazingly famous and endure media coverage. Third parties in the United States have had difficulties in their attempts to try and make an impact on the U.S politics. The Libertarian Party can be regarded as the third largest party in the nation though it is not widely known. This article does an analysis of basic differences between the two main political parties as it also considers the barriers standing against the success of a third party.
All the differences between the Democrats and the Republicans sprout from the philosophical differences between them. Democrats are philosophically supporters of the social services in the United States. On the other hand, Republicans have a philosophy that has been founded on dominant foreign policies and the government.
The Republicans are rather conservative both socially and fiscally, they are a little interested in pro-business, pious and they tend to be opposed to bureaucratic policies that are associated with large governments. To them, big governments are an obstacle to getting things done and goals achieved. In addition they perceive the large governments as being wasteful of essential resources (Aghion, Alesina & Trebbi, 2007). They adopt a Darwinian approach that supports statements like the cream rises to the top and that the strong will survive.
The Democrats who are at times regarded to be on the left side of the spectrum are completely liberals. They are liberal because of their tendency to favor active involvement of the government in social issues. They want to be involved in matters such as anti-discrimination laws and environmental aspects. They believe that such involvement goes a long way into improving quality of the people’s lives and can help them get to larger goals through equality and opportunity (Aghion, Alesina & Trebbi, 2007). The Republicans rely on the view that the government should take a limited role while the private sector can come in to tackle issues such as environmental aspects thus improvement of self-reliance and freedom.
While the Republican Party is inclined to coming up with policies that are aimed towards improving individual responsibility, the Democrats approach the same issues with a community-responsibility approach. The Democrats thus go for laws and policies that will promote, maintain and improve communal responsibility and social justice (Baudrillard & Witwer, 2000).
Upon understanding this philosophical difference, we can then explain some of the stands they take. For instance, the Democrats are more supportive of gay marriages, they are for minimum wages and progressive taxation and advocate for decreased spending on the military (James, & Ignatiev, 2013). The Republicans are opposed to the three. The Republicans support death penalty and oppose abortions. The Democrats take the exact opposite side on these matters.
The only time a third party candidate won an election was in 1864 when Abraham Lincoln scooped the seat beating the Republican choice Fremont while the Democrats had McClelland. There has been no repeat of that however for all the years that have passed. In some cases however, the third party has been considered an influential aspect when they are in a position to produce a candidate who has the potential to gather around 5% of the total votes. This is because, they are likely to influence the election due to a recall for a rerun. For instance, looking back at the year 1992, the impacts of a third party resulted to the reelection of George H. Bush. In 2000, a similar event occurred that caused Al Gore to miss on the presidential elections (Baudrillard & Witwer, 2000).
The reasons why the third parties find it so difficult to shine in the presidential elections is mainly due to the electoral process of the country. It makes it completely difficult for the third parties to organize themselves let alone manage to get their name on the ballot boxes. When they work hard to get their names on ballot papers, they have a long path to take in convincing the voters. This is influenced by the fact that the Democrats and Republicans have massive political connections. As a result therefore they have the capability and potential to influence the nation’s resources. They thus have adequate resources that enables them to run their businesses. A third party is unable to run its activities due to minimal resources and inadequate access to patronage. In the current politics, every political process is expensive which thus makes money an important tool for any party. This is actually the biggest barrier that the third parties are facing (James, & Ignatiev, 2013). From a personal perspective, the impact of money on politics was magnified by the Supreme Court’s decision to allow unions and corporations to spend limitless amounts of money to support the parties that they desired in the Citizens United vs The Federal Election Commission of 2010. The hope of third parties was crippled.
Another reason that makes it difficult for a third party to be successful is the historical aspect. The politics of the United States begun as a two-party system. There were federalists and the anti-federalists. Starting at this point therefore, it is evident that a third party will have a mountain to climb in overcoming such a social and political structure.
References
Aghion, P., Alesina, A., & Trebbi, F. (2007). Democracy, technology, and growth. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Baudrillard, J., & Witwer, J. (2000). The vital illusion. New York: Columbia University Press.
James, C. L., & Ignatiev, N. (2013). Modern Politics. Oakland, CA: P M Press.
Reed, J. R. (2010). Dickens's hyperrealism. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
