According to Peter?s Principle, a theory originally established by education specialist Laurence J. Peter in 1969, a person rises up the ranks until they reach a point of incompetence.
This truth also applies to a political parties. The Republican and Democratic parties have both historically implemented change that has- pushed the country forward. Unfortunately, both parties have grown to a point where their own priorities hold them back. As a result, the time has come to dissolve these bitter rivals and make way for a more evenly represented multi-party system.
With only two presidential nominees, American voters face a dilemma: a lack of favorable candidates that address the needs of more people. Due to this fact, the voter turnout in America is low when compared to other democratic countries. Russia has three major parties and has a greater voter turnout than the United States, France has five major parties and has an even greater turnout than Russia.
The US problem is a direct result of the lack of representation for the average voter in the political parties; this problem could be solved by diversifying the political options.
Despite each party being either predominantly liberal or conservative, there are some deviations within each party. For example, Richard Nixon was liberal when it came to environmentalism, yet the Republican Party did not adopt his opinions.
In the 1960s, the Democratic Party was divided within over the issues of Civil Rights and the ending of the Vietnam War, which fatally divided their supporters. Each politician may have his or her own opinions, but the political norms in each party will decide what policies will represent the party as a whole and are seen by the media.
There are more than two parties in this country, yet most, if not all, third parties are reduced to focusing on a single issue. As a result their issues, if important enough to the people, are adopted by the major parties. This may not be a good thing because it means that the opposing party is forced top take the opposite position.
The Green Party, for example, is a third party that grew popular in the late 1990s for their environmental policies.
Because of the Green Party?s popularity, the Democrats, specifically Al Gore, adopted their policies. As a result of the democrats shift in policy the Republican Party chose to be against renewable energy. This creates a yes/no system of government that is counterproductive to fulfilling the needs of the people. Because of this yes/no system many political officials spend their time reversing many of the changes made or ignoring problems made by previous rival party administrations. As our country takes a step forward, there is always a chance that when the regime changes we will be forced to take two steps back.
The Republicans and the Democrats aren?t incompetent, but the system that governs this country is. Our two major parties are too concerned with denouncing each other to properly serve the people, as outlined in Peter?s Principle. Thus, the time has come for this system to be abandoned. Third parties should abandon their single-issued mentality and create broader platforms and should attempt to take office themselves.