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By Landon Williams
Since the founding of the United States of America, the issue of partisanship has been a concern on the minds of all its intellectual thinkers. Even before the official founding of the US, James Madison was expressing his concerns with factionism in Federalist No. 10 and how America was to combat its effects. In his farewell address, President George Washington, considered by many to be the greatest president, warned about the complications of fighting among groups within the political scene. Yet we have failed to heed their warnings and allowed our parties to drive us further and further apart as we hide away within our echo chambers.
Just mentioning you’re a Republican or a Democrat can start arguments that develop into a range of arguments from heated dinner conversations to grudges that last for years. Tthe founding fathers did not intend this, as they wanted their new nation to stand together in the name of the people, but it is those very people who have undermined what it their nation is supposed to represent. The unique idea of individualism has coursed through the veins of the American, but it has had the unfortunate side effect of resulting individuals believing that their individualism is all that matters, which gridlocks the systems in power to the point that nothing gets accomplished. It is human nature that presenting people with an issue will often result in opposing two sides locked in conflict, both sides believing that they are absolutely and inarguably right. With the rise of modern forms of media, the idea that your opinion is the only one that has any merit has resonated throughout society, and many views have been lost and remain unheard among the conflict.
So why is it that the supposed beacon of democracy has a system that can pit brother against brother built directly into its core operations? Even when considering the less-than-enticing aspects of the two-party system, its merits prove again and again why our system has helped us rise to the forefront of the world stage. Though we often complain about the inaction of our Congress due to excessive party loyalty, it is the majoritarian aspect of our system that gives them any power at all. If there were more parties than one majority and one minority, no one group would ever have enough support to enact their power, and our Congress would be even less effective than it already is. Our system provides our government with the power it needs to govern, control, and protect the people it rules over.
Though our system has more than the Republican and Democrat parties, there is very little power allocated to outside parties. For the longest time, I blamed this two-party system for the political unrest in America. I hated that the people are at the will of two colossal titans looming over the them, forcing them to choose a side that might not even represent what they believe in. I believed that dividing people into factions was what led to rioting and disdain towards the government, and that just not having those labels would solve the problem. I am now aware that to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs, and to have a functioning nation, not everyone can get what they want. As much as I’d like to believe people could operate without parties and the issues that come with them, human nature is to be in conflict, and the added organization helps to control that conflict to a manigable degree. So I have concluded that among the flaws of the American system, the two-party system is the biggest necessary evil of democracy, and we would be in a poor state without them.
Landon is a McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville in the class of 2029. He is studying political science with a minor in legal studies.