The Two-Party System
Political parties frame the debate, recruit candidates, and raise money. The Democratic and Republican parties dominate American politics and are organized at the national, state, and local levels. Over the past decade in many states, an increasing percentage of the electorate has chosen to remain unaffiliated. Despite dissatisfaction with the Democrats and the Republicans, minor parties face huge obstacles in their efforts to gain a foothold.
The United States Constitution makes no
mention of political parties, yet the two-party system has
become a foundation of the American political system. The
party that controls the White House has a major advantage in
setting the national agenda through the bully pulpit, but
executive power is constrained by the legislative and
judicial branches. Congressional leadership plays a key role
in determining the directions of the parties as do the
national party committees, state parties and state
leadership. Surrounding both parties are constellations of
ideological and interest groups seeking to push them in one
direction or another.
Both parties boast long traditions, the Democrats pointing
to Thomas Jefferson, FDR, Harry Truman and JFK and the
Republicans tracing back to Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt
and Ronald Reagan. Thanks to cartoonist Thomas Nast in the
1870s, Democrats are represented by the donkey and
Republicans by the elephant; a more recent phenomenon is the
assignment of the color red for Republicans and blue for
Democrats. Generally, conservatives align with the
Republican Party and liberals and progressives align with
the Democrats. There is also the stereotypical image of
Democrats as the party of big labor and ivory tower
academics and Republicans as the party of big business and
the rich. Views of the parties are also shaped by their
national leadership; thus the Democrats are seen as the
party of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority
Leader Chuck Schumer and the Republicans as the party of
President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell.
Within the parties are various forces and factions. In the Democratic Party there is constant tension between progressive and more pragmatic or centrist elements such as Blue Dog Democrats. In the Republican Party social conservatives form a significant element of the base. Tea party activists became a force in 2010, and more recently the pro-Trump faction has taken hold. There are also libertarian elements. Moderate Republicans are seen as a disappearing breed, disparaged by conservatives as RINOs (Republicans in Name Only). Independent groups such as the tea party movement or the labor movement operate outside the party structure but seek to influence it, even as they in turn are wooed by the party.
A contrarian view holds that the major parties are
basically very similar. During his campaigns Ralph Nader
often spoke of a "two-party duopoly" and likened the
Democrats and Republicans to Tweedledee and Tweedledum. As
politics has become increasingly professionalized,
candidates of both parties must raise vast amounts of money
to pay for pollsters and consultants. There is a Washington
establishment, a culture of money and lobbyists, described
in the book This Town,
in which Democrats and Republicans figure equally.
National, state and local party committees work to provide
infrastructure to ensure electoral success of candidates up
and down the ballot. In a sense the party committees set the
grid and boundaries of the field on which electoral politics
occurs. The work of the party committees goes on at every
level, and, whether it be recruiting candidates, raising
money, or registering voters, occurs in election and
non-election years (+),
At the top are the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Republican National Committee (RNC) with headquarters and staffs in Washington. Frequently one sees the RNC or DNC chair on television speaking for the party. Structurally the DNC and RNC are quite different entities—the DNC is governed by a charter and bylaws, while the RNC runs under rules set at its quadrennial convention. In addition to the RNC and the DNC, Republicans and Democrats also have separate national committees focused on electing members of the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House, governors, other statewide officials, and state legislators. In areas such as technology and online security, for example, national committees are best equipped to stay abreast of the latest developments and then train and educate state and local committee staff.
At the state and county levels, one finds that party
organizations vary in strength depending on the state or
county and the quality of leadership. Far away from
Washington, DC, county parties and local party clubs provide
a direct interface with citizens, engaging in such
activities as sponsoring speakers or candidate forums or
tabling at farmer's markets or county fairs.
Shifting Fortunes
Over time, the American electorate has tended to vote so
that neither of the parties holds too much power, and
fortunes of the parties can change unexpectedly. Bill
Clinton was elected President in 1992, but Republicans
rebounded to gain control of the House of Representatives in
1994. Twelve years later Democrats regained control of the
House. When Barack Obama won the White House in 2008,
Democrats appeared to be in a very strong position. In May
2009 Time magazine ran a cover story showing the
Republican elephant as an "Endangered Species" and National
Journal focused on "The Shrinking GOP." However, in
November 2009 Republicans won governorships in New Jersey
and Virginia, on January 19, 2010 they elected Scott Brown
to the U.S. Senate in the Massachusetts special election,
and in November 2010 they dealt Democrats an historic
drubbing.
Then, in 2012, despite all efforts, they failed to make
President Obama a one-term president. Some observers even
questioned Republicans' ability to regain the White House in
future due to changing demographics of the country.
Republicans started working to address the problem.
Following the 2012 campaign, the Republican National
Committee undertook a major reassessment and vowed "a new
way of doing things." (+) The
Republican State Leadership Committee's Future Majority
Project focused on recruiting diverse candidates and women
in the 2013-14 cycle.
In the 2014 midterms, Democrats endured widespread losses,
casting some doubts on its future prospects. In addition
to losing control of the Senate, and falling short in
governor's races, Republicans achieved a net gain of between
300 and 350 state legislative seats according to he National
Conference of State Legislatures, giving them "their highest
number of legislators since 1920." Democrats have their own
gender gap, among white males. One need only look at the
U.S. political map, which is a sea of red with dots of blue
in urban areas, to see that Democrats have a problem in
rural areas. The Democratic National Committee announced its
own "top-to-bottom review" following the 2014 midterms (+).
Donald
Trump's stunning upset in 2016 dealt another blow to
Democrats, but in the 2018 midterms the pendulum swung
decisively to Democrats. Democrats regained control of the
House and picked up governor's offices and legislative
seats.
The ebb and flow of the fortunes of the two major parties
is a recurring theme in American politics, as is the
inability of third parties and independents to gain any
traction.
Over the past decade, conservatives and
progressives alike have developed increasingly sophisticated
infrastructure to support like-minded candidates.
Functions such as training, data and opposition research,
which were formerly filled by the party committees are
supplemented by or even implemented by outside
entities. Although the assortment of groups and
networks on the right and on the left are independent of the
parties, there are often linkages and connections. For
example, party committees and independent groups may use the
same consultants or vendors, and it is not uncommon for
staff of these groups to have worked at one of the party
committees. In effect such groups form adjuncts to the
parties, aligning with them and supplementing their work;
one could argue the have as much or more impact. While
progressives had somewhat of a head start in the development
of this infrastructure, conservatives have clearly caught up
in recent years.
One key group on the progressive side is America Votes. Formed in the 2004 cycle, America Votes coordinates the campaign activities of a number of progressive groups thus avoiding duplication of efforts. Another group, Catalist, provides "progressive organizations with the data and services needed to better identify, understand, and communicate with the people they need to persuade and mobilize." The Analyst Institute is "a clearinghouse for evidence-based best practices in progressive voter contact." The Atlas Project provides "political data, analysis, election history and insight." Also on the progressive side, American Bridge focuses on opposition research, including having trackers following and videotaping Republican presidential candidates and other Republican candidates. Democracy Alliance, formed in 2005, "was created to build progressive infrastructure that could help counter the well-funded and sophisticated conservative apparatus..." A recent addition on the progressive side is the American Democracy Legal Fund, "a group established to hold candidates for office accountable for possible ethics and/or legal violations."
On the conservative side, groups such as The Leadership
Institute (founded in 1979) and GOPAC (founded in 1978) work
on training activists and leaders. Heritage Action, founded
in 2010, focuses on conservative political advocacy. In the
last decade,tThe Koch brothers had a significant impact,
providing backing to an array of organizations.
Freedom Partners supports "broad-based coalitions to advance
free markets and a free society." i360, a "data and
technology resource for the pro-free-market political and
advocacy community," has developed a database of 190+
million active voters and 250+ million US consumers."
Americans for Prosperity is "an organization of grassroots
leaders who engage citizens in the name of limited
government and free markets." The Kochs also support
three constituency groups: Generation Opportunity (youth),
Concerned Veterans of American and LIBRE (Hispanics).
Another group on the conservative side is America Rising
LLC, which like American Bridge does opposition research and
tracking.
Another example of ideological infrastructure are think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation on the right and the Center for American Progress on the left; these serve as idea factories.
Is Increasing Partisanship a Problem?
Many commentators and officials believe the
partisan tone has become more strident in recent decades.
Some observers have argued that there are fewer swing seats
in Congress, and that as a result Members, ensconced in safe
districts, do not need to moderate their positions. The
professionalization of politics may also contribute; while
there have certainly been negative campaigns in the past,
consultants now have the attack campaign down to a science.
They churn out slick communications attacking opposing
candidates. In a fair number of races, campaigns are
outspent by outside interest groups whose backers are not
apparent and whose messages frequently feature attacks.
Additionally, talk radio, cable television and the
blogosphere abound with heated rhetoric, echoing attacks.
The net result appears to be severe dysfunction, where both
sides are talking past each other.
There have been various efforts to transcend partisanship.
During their presidential campaigns, candidates George W.
Bush ("uniter not a divider") and Barack Obama ("there
are no red states and no blue states") both made bipartisan
appeals, but once they were in office they found those
sentiments difficult to implement. There are a number of
groups working to advance a bipartisan approach. The Bipartisan Policy
Center, formed in 2007 by former Senate Majority
Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George
Mitchell, is a think tank that "combines the best
ideas from both the Republican and Democratic parties to
address the nation's key challenges." No Labels, launched Dec.
13, 2010, seeks to "counter hyper-partisanship" and "bring
together leading thinkers from the left, right, and all
points in between." While mainly focused on Congress,
in Fall 2015 No Labels tried to advance a National Strategic Agenda
"to help catalyze debate in the 2016 presidential election."
For 2020 the group is again seeking to have an impact. Unite America,
previously the Centrist Project, launched in 2018 with the
goal of electing "common sense, independent candidates."
Credible third party or independent candidates can help to
elevate the quality of the debate, but the results for
independent and third party candidates in recent elections
have continued to be underwhelming. Another approach with
some promise is Better
Angels, "a citizens’ organization uniting red and blue
Americans in a working alliance to depolarize America." More
broadly there is the notion of "transpartisanship,"
which "recognizes the validity of all points of view and
values a constructive dialogue aimed at arriving at
creative, integrated, and therefore, breakthrough solutions
that meet the needs of all sides."
At the presidential level, efforts to elect independent
candidates or even a unity ticket have failed. The last
strong showings by an independent candidate were Ross
Perot's 1992 (18.9%) and 1996 (8.4%) campaigns. In 2016
former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg looked into an
independent run, but decided against it fearing it would tip
the race to Trump. Former Starbucks head Howard Schultz
encountered a lot of pushback as he looked into an
independent run in the first part of 2019; ultimately he
abandoned the effort (+).
Likewise
the
idea
of
a
unity
ticket
has
not
gotten
anywhere.
In
2018
there
was
some talk that Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) and Gov. John
Hickenlooper (D-CO) might team up, but it never moved beyond
talk. In the 2012 cycle Americans Elect.
Americans Elect ("Pick a President, Not a Party") proved to
be a flop; after working on ballot access in all 50 states,
the group conducted a primary process that failed to produce
a qualified candidate. In May 2006 Unity08 launched with the
goal of electing a bipartisan ticket to the White House; the
group folded in 2008. Another effort to overcome
partisanship was 1787, which started up in 2013 and
described itself as "an organization with a policy platform
grounded in common sense." 1787 planned to have "a
presidential, vice presidential and multiple congressional
candidates on ballots in 2016." However, this effort gained
no traction.
Third Parties: Huge Obstacles
In an Gallup survey of 1,028 adults conduced
in Sept. 2018 (>),
57 percent of respondents said a third major party is
needed. (The question asked was, "In your view, do the
Republican and Democratic parties do an adequate job of
representing the American people, or do they do such a poor
job that a third major party is needed?")
The major "minor" or third parties are the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, and the Constitution Party. Those parties have demonstrated little mainstream appeal. There are also a few state-based third parties which could benefit from voter dissatisfaction. Despite the apparent opening for a third party, difficulties with uneven and inequitable ballot access requirements (+), raising money, recruiting credible candidates, and attracting media attention form high barriers to these parties.
Ross Perot's two runs for president inspired many dedicated activists, a led to the formation of the Reform Party, which ran a lot of candidates around the country, and even elected a governor, Jesse Ventura, in Minnesota in 1998. That year may have been a high point for third parties. The Greens and the U.S. Taxpayers (now Constitution Party) had more "umpf" and the Natural Law Party was also active. In 2000 Green Party nominee Ralph Nader won 2.9 million votes or 2.74%. In 2016, the Libertarian presidential ticket of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, two former Republican governors, achieved the best showing ever by the party, obtaining almost 4.5 million votes or 3.27% of the vote.
More often, however, third party candidates
are little known and face a struggle to achieve credibility
and resources needed to have any impact in a race. The
historical record and the many formidable obstacles in our
system suggest that third parties will continue to have a
marginal impact. Even if third parties' efforts do not fully
succeed, their ideas leaven the debate and their presence
may hopefully improve our democracy.
Useful Links
- American Political Science Association: Political Parties
- Open Secrets: Political Parties
- Platforms: Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Greens, Constitution
- Pew Research: Political
Party Affiliation
- Amazon.com: search Political Parties