The United States’ two-party governing system is, for a lack of any better words, bad.
While Republicans and Democrats try to represent everyone, they don’t. Thirty-nine percent of Americans identify as independents, or feel as though they don’t fall in either of the two major parties for whatever reason.
There’s a lot of gray areas in political ideology, so even the members of both major parties don’t necessarily fit the bill of their R or D to a T. So what gives? The two-party system is likely on its way out. This is starting to become clear in our contemporary two-party system. While it seems like all the fighting is done between the two parties, there’s a lot of fighting within the parties as well. It’s only a matter of time until the parties break up.
The Libertarian party and Green party exist, but really aren’t taken too seriously in our current political environment. Sure, they’re on the ballots in every election, but they’re never on the debate stage. There are many people who hold the opinions of those parties, but claim whichever party they closer align with of the Dems or GOP – or claim independence, simply because the two parties are powerful in their own right.
The left may see a split between what is turning into the “progressive left” and “centrist left.” The progressive left consists of ideals that historically have been considered socialist, or similar to Sen. Bernie Sanders (though Sanders is an independent, his ideals align with that of the political left) platform from 2016, or the ideas that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is enacting. One of the strongest themes that can be seen in what Ocasio-Cortez stands for is raising taxes for the upper-class in order to fund government programs such as free tuition to state colleges, healthcare and environmental protection. Similar themes were seen in Sanders’ campaign – both struck a strong chord with young voters, and even increased youth voter turnout rates. This faction of the Democratic party is most likely the future of the Democratic party, but still, it is not representative of the Democratic party as a whole.
The centrist left of the Democratic party will be what we have thought of when thinking of the Democratic party in the past. Moderate Democrats that come to mind are the likes of Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, the centrists are more likely to align with conservative values. The split within the party is become evident that something will have to give in an effort for the progressive and centrists to break apart.
The Republicans, however, may see a three-way split into “Conservatives,” “Populists,” and “Conservatarians.” Conservatives will continue to be what we have come to know as “classic Republicans”- you know, like President Ronald Reagan. “Populists” will be the party of Donald Trump. This new party will have a strong “America first,” isolationist ideology. Conservatarians will consist of people who are fiscally conservative but socially liberal – very similar to the Libertarian party. This new party will include a lot of young adults, as most millennial Republicans already consider themselves socially liberal and fit into this category.
Anyone who lives in America can recognize how divisive our political system has become, and while a multi-party system at first may seem relatively more divisive, it can’t be given that it fosters the ideologies of a broader population rather than two opposites bashing one another. If any sort of olive branch is to be found on Capitol Hill, the parties may as well come to terms with their archaic system and break up.
Mikayla Rochelle is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Mikayla by tweeting her at @mikayla_roch.
