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Political party polarization
Party polarization essay
Political party polarization
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Political party polarization
Party polarization essay
Political party polarization
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the United States there are two major parties involved in our political structure, Democrats and Republicans. Since 1836, these two parties have dominated the political scene and Democrats and Republicans have controlled Congress and the presidency since 1860. Now, within these two parties there are people with progressive and conservative ideologies. These ideologies are not confined to only one political party, but instead are largely based on the individual’s opinion and perspective. Generally speaking though, most conservatives are Republicans and most progressives are Democrats.
Some changes in party polarization in Congress over the last several decades are the party division between Republicans and Democrats as having widened over the last several decades, leading to greater partisanship. What caused this change was increasing homogeneous districts and increasing alignment between ideology and partisanship among voters. I feel this can be good because the original congress was just one and if you did not agree with this opinion you could not do anything about it. Now at least you can fall under a category which is Republican or Democrat. In fact, I believe there should be more than just two parties because I know most people like some of the ideologies from Democrats (such as being more liberal) but they also like
The differentiators that account for the variation are the parties and Congress. Meinke then deduces from the information that the majority party in Congress exhibits a significant substantial number of members that advertise their partisan activity — “…majority party status—and possibly the strength of the party brand name—is associated with the choice.” (Meinke 860) Meinke also discovers that the stronger the partisan base (measured by same-party presidential vote), there is a more
One strength of a political party is that they are “essential institutions for the operation of the American government” (Barker, 2016, p. 1, para. 1). One of the functions of the political party is to be the middle person between citizens and “their elected government” (Barker, 2016, p. 4, para. 2) so that the people can feel as if their voices will be heard and the issues will be resolved. Although political parties should be for the people, one of the weaknesses is that “many believe that the major parties do not do an adequate job of
In the twenty-first century, the United States is predominately a two-party political system. In George Washington’s Farwell Address (1796) he said, “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism” (para. 22). In this speech, Washington cautioned his fellow Americans about the risks of political parties; he claimed the partisanship would lead to inter-political discord, divide the nation, and give rise to instances of tyranny. Although a two-party system has the potential to not be detrimental to the country, with people following the examples of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson Americans have a tendency to put their personal political associations ahead of what may be best for the country.
Several factors are given throughout the earlier chapters of the book to explain why the myth about polarization persists such as conflating political activists with the public and the media. Morris Fiorina also notes that most of the public is not proficient in political issues nor do they take the time to learn
As the foundations of a successful government system, political parties help keep balance of power and uphold the Democratic ideals of the United States. These parties have origins that can trace back to the early sectional tensions in America. These sectional tensions were the primary reasons for the development and progression of political parties in the United States. As early as 1800, signs of deviation would appear.
Political Parties serve a crucial role in congressional campaigns, especially for candidate recruitment. One significant role political parties serve is the state law of redistricting, “Because the composition of House districts can make the difference between winning and losing, the two major parties and individual politicians, particularly incumbents, often fight fierce battles in state legislatures over the alignment of districts.” (Smith, et al., 2007). Similar to my previous discussion, the congressional district map is crucial to the success of political parties and gerrymandering is just apart of the nature of political parties. In order for political parties to completely reap the benefits of their constituents, they must draw a map that serves their best interest.
The trend in congressional polarization overshadows the trends in public. While congressional moderates dissipate, moderates in the public “in the United States stands at its highest point in more than 75 years” according to polling (Smith). Many moderates ‘lean’ toward the left or right which causes the first problem in many polarization studies. Polarization means that constituents disperse from the center of the line to either or right into political parties, not necessarily radical, but many of these ‘leaners’ continue to vote on an issue to issue basis (Enns and Schuldt). Congressional polarization differs immensely; this trend appears more as sorting where partisans move to more “extreme ideologies” (Hill and Tausanovitch 1060).
Over the last decade congressional polarization has increased at alarming rates causing Washington insiders and outsiders alike to worry about the future of American politics and democracy. While Democrats and Republicans on The Hill cannot agree on much, they both acknowledge that the increasing level of polarization in Washington is crippling the entire legislative branch, thereby undermining the greatest democracy in the world. Numerous public opinion polls, over the last few years, have shown that the vast majority of the American public, regardless of party affiliation, disapproves of, and feels unrepresented by, the extremely polarized legislature (Gallup, 2016). However, year after year, despite how many Americans become disgruntled
Both mainstream political parties are examples of poor leadership to the United States, and are a poor example to the rest of the world. Democrats and Republicans are supposed to put aside their political differences and work together to represent most of the citizens in the United States. In a perfect world, everyone would be represented equally; due to different religious beliefs, gender, and race, every law that passed will not be supported by every single American. Despite this, legislation should represent a majority of Americans. In this current political state, both political parties feel that their side is not being fairly represented.
In Ruben Navarrette’s opinion piece in the USA Today, “Don’t be a 100 percent-er”, she discusses the partisanship involved in two major American political issues, guns and abortion. The beliefs of most people of these two political debates mostly coincide with their political party, with Democrats being on the side for gun control and be pro-choice, while Republicans are on the side of less gun control and be pro-life. Navarrette argues that this partisanship, these contrasting views with no grey in between, is fracturing the country, and politics is not about absolutes. She goes on to describe that there are people in the United States, including the author herself, that have beliefs in this grey area, and that going more to the fringes is
There are far too many occurrences in which Congress was unable to reach a happy medium to appease both side in the division of the House. For example, gun violence has been relatedly discussed in congress, yet no solution has been reached while the number of victims continues to rise. Immigration reform has been reviewed many times in Congress as well and there still is no true answer to the problem or agreeance upon what the problem truly is. Those are but a few examples of the reason why citizens have little faith in the American Congress system; it consistently fails to make any notable strides or achievements in bettering the country. Works Cited David Nakamura, Ed O 'Keefe.
Finally, it will be argued that the modern political party system in the United States is a two-party system dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. These two parties have won every United States presidential election since 1852 and have controlled the United States Congress since 1856. The Democratic Party generally positions itself as centre-left in American politics and supports a modern American liberal platform, while the Republican Party generally positions itself as centre-right and supports a modern American conservative platform. (Nichols, 1967)
Political parties serve countless roles in America’s government. Foremost, it needs to be said they are crucial to America’s political system. The political parties are the heart and brain of our government's body, urging people to conceive and feel different ways on different topics whether the controversy is over how money is distributed or the way immigrants should be treated or dealt with. With each party having a biased view it shows how a group can be increasingly powerful with bountiful amounts of support, names and divisions can be heard. Democrats are widely known to be liberal rather than conservative.