Why there are no other political parties in America? is the current system good for democracy?

Question

Why there are no other political parties in America? is the current system good for democracy?

Answer 1

There are no viable other parties because it is not a matter of values. It is a matter of advertising and that costs money------$millions. The two majors also sink new parties by obstructive machinery in the system that blocks their access to the public. If that doesn't work, they hijack their hot-button key issues for themselves to deflate the new movement.

It would be more of a true democracy without ANY parties but the people have remained too emotional and uninformed and brainwashed to the old ways  to pull that off.

If they wished, they could organize in a non-partisan Council to educate themselves to where, collectively, they would know everything about everything and the majority would have their voice back and, hopefully, would give due recognition to minority views. But that would take a genuine caring and a little effort.

Answer 2

How many do you want, I can think of five or six. The "Green" "Socialist" "Communists" "Democrats" Republicans", and most likely more. They all suck! Oh then there's the Clinton Party with Billary and Hillary!

Answer 3

There are two major parties and countless minor parties, here, there, everywhere-even national. But the structure of our national government strongly forces no more than two major parties. Some elements that do so: the electoral college and the winner-take-all rule for almost all states; the explicit election laws in many states that prescribe bipartisan actions; the separation of the executive and legislative branches, unlike a parliamentary system.

Two parties are good for democracy because it should force both sides to recognize the other side if anything is to be done. It avoids the confusion and disarray that has afflicted countries with many parties--France through the 50's and 60's, Italy in the same period and later, Israel currently, etc. On the other hand, one party rule is disastrous for democracy, as shown in the world's dictatorships and attempted here over the last 6 years.

Answer 4

Do you think having many political parties is better?  Come to the Philippines and see. We have as many political parties as there are candidates.

Answer 5

When you say other, do you mean other than just the democrats and republicans? If so, there are other parties, just not so powerful or with as much money. The Green party, the Independent party. the socialist party (yes they are here still), the Libertarian Party, the Constitution Party and others.

For the second part of your question, there would not be a democracy without a diversification of political parties. One of the fundamental features of democracies include government based on majority rule, We, as citizens vote for the majority primarily based on party affiliations.

Hope I have answered your question

Answer 6

political parties in general destroy our government. They are the single most reason that our government never gets anything done. Everyone is too busy arguing with each other because they have to due to their political alignment. Political parties need to gotten rid of entirely. Today, people get elected for their party, not because of their views. Getting rid of parties will let people focus on the issues and elect somebody actually good.

Answer 7

you mean MAJOR political parties.  there are many political parties, but most represent a very small minority.  of the majors there is really only one.  dem or repub, in DC they are the same.  witness the iraq war issue.  many dems started out saying the war is wrong, etc.  now we find none would actually bring the troops home.  they've been spoken to by the powers that be.

in some countries dissent is crushed by squads, platoon or companies of armed men.  in america dissent is crushed differently.  a nice young lawyer visits and explains how their careers will be ruined if they don't follow orders.  how the bank will call in their loans.  how they will find themselves distitute and alone but for the others in the soup kitchen line.

Answer 8

There are more than 2 political parties.  Just not enough support for any of them.  It is just the way things are.  If we wanted more political parties then we would have them.  In the past we had more, but in many cases they were redundant on issues and were condensed into 2 parties.  It works for most people here, so we use it.

Answer 9

Independants get crushed by weight of two party system...

Answer 10

There are many, many political parties in America!  The two main ones, Democrats and Republicans just get the most press.  But there are many, many more.

See the link below for details on 49 other parties in America.

Answer 11

i dont like the fact that we have political parties yeah i might be kinda young to understand it  but people are being devided depending on what partie thet are in i just dont get it so if you could help me on y there are parties in the first place i could answer your question

Answer 12

You need it like Canada, more parties, and a minority government where nobody does anything stupid

Answer 13

Others have answered your first question.  I'd like to take a shot at your second.  

The present (ie, two-party dominated system) is not good for democracy.  Because legislators tend to vote along party lines, there is room for only two points of view most of the time.  

To those who say that there would be more parties represented in Congress and state legislatures if people voted for them, how about the requirements to get on the ballot, other than as a write-in?  In many states it is prohibitive.  Yet, if those parties succeeded in getting on the ballot, they might pick up protest votes (which is instructive in itself) and then build a base.  Take a look at a fledgling democracy - Scotland - which has something akin to a US state legislature.  The Scottish National Party ran a distant fourth in elections from its formation right up to the 1970's.  They were always on the ballot but often got 1 or 2% of the vote.  However, getting on the ballot was as simple as handing over the equivalent of $300 and signatures from ten supporters.  Because they were on the ballot, they got airtime and column inches (equal to the other parties - a requirement throughout the UK).  In the 1970's people listened to their message and they grew in popularity.  After bouncing about at about 14% of the vote for a couple of decades the party really took off in the late 1990's and, in May, became the largest party in the Scottish Parliament.  There are five parties in the parliament so to get anything approved takes at least two and usually three parties to support it.  So far, the new politics in Scotland is working.  If it can work in a small country like Scotland, it can work in the majority of US states.  Likewise, if three national parties and five regional parties can make the UK parliament work, the US Congress can function with more parties.

The benefits of multi-party legislatures are obvious: There is scope for a rainbow of views rather than two polarized ones, people will be more inclined to vote if they perceive that they can change things and perhaps the rest of the world will see the USA opening up to its citizens, thus giving us more credibility internationally.  The key (and the major stumbling block) is getting the states to recognize this and make it easier to get bona fide parties on the ballot.  That is a tough thing to do, but it will reap immense rewards.

Answer 14

I wonder if they understand the concept of more than 2 choices.

Answer 15

you have no idea how our system works do you? we do have political parties... democrats and republicans are the big ones... then there are tons of others, they never get voted, well sometimes but only for the house, because the dems and republicans got a history compared to them, and we belive in them since have been around for more time... its almost like, if you were to buy soda and had options would you pick coke, pepsi, or any other cheap soda brand, given the fact they all cost the same...