Spring Break
Two-party system prevents true democracy
Josh Levinson
Issue date: 9/12/03 Section: Commentary
Can you name the last United States president who didn't belong to one of the two major parties?
Millard Fillmore of the Whig Party served as the president from 1850 to 1853. The last elected president who belonged to a third party was Fillmore's predecessor, Zachary Taylor, a fellow Whig, who began serving office in 1848. He died less than two years later. In other words, the last time Americans voted a third party candidate into the presidential office was more than 150 years ago.
What does this say about our supposed democracy? We claim to allow the free flow of ideas in our society, and to a certain extent (in the freedom of press, protest and lifestyle) we do, but the simple fact remains: our political system prevents a truly democratic system from evolving.
What about Congress? There are currently 435 members of the House of Representatives. Two of them (less than 0.5 percent) are independent. There are also 100 members of the Senate, with only. one being independent.
Beyond the statistics lies another story. During the debacle that was the 2000 presidential election, Ralph Nader, the candidate from the Green Party, managed to acquire 2.74 percent of the overall popular vote. Many Gore supporters accused the Green Party voters of "throwing their votes away," and their accusations hold weight.
If the Green Party voters had gone Democratic instead (we can probably assume they wouldn't vote Republican with their liberal views), would Gore have won the Presidency? The answer is: probably yes.
Of course, if we lived in an actual democracy instead of a democratic republic, Gore would have won the election anyway. Instead of each vote counting the same, the votes in New York and California actually count more than the votes from Oregon. How is that a democracy?
We further choke the voice of the independents because of the slight issue of campaign money. Without being able to acquire at least 5 percent of the overall vote, presidential hopefuls aren't allowed to draw federal campaign funds for the next election.
Millard Fillmore of the Whig Party served as the president from 1850 to 1853. The last elected president who belonged to a third party was Fillmore's predecessor, Zachary Taylor, a fellow Whig, who began serving office in 1848. He died less than two years later. In other words, the last time Americans voted a third party candidate into the presidential office was more than 150 years ago.
What does this say about our supposed democracy? We claim to allow the free flow of ideas in our society, and to a certain extent (in the freedom of press, protest and lifestyle) we do, but the simple fact remains: our political system prevents a truly democratic system from evolving.
What about Congress? There are currently 435 members of the House of Representatives. Two of them (less than 0.5 percent) are independent. There are also 100 members of the Senate, with only. one being independent.
Beyond the statistics lies another story. During the debacle that was the 2000 presidential election, Ralph Nader, the candidate from the Green Party, managed to acquire 2.74 percent of the overall popular vote. Many Gore supporters accused the Green Party voters of "throwing their votes away," and their accusations hold weight.
If the Green Party voters had gone Democratic instead (we can probably assume they wouldn't vote Republican with their liberal views), would Gore have won the Presidency? The answer is: probably yes.
Of course, if we lived in an actual democracy instead of a democratic republic, Gore would have won the election anyway. Instead of each vote counting the same, the votes in New York and California actually count more than the votes from Oregon. How is that a democracy?
We further choke the voice of the independents because of the slight issue of campaign money. Without being able to acquire at least 5 percent of the overall vote, presidential hopefuls aren't allowed to draw federal campaign funds for the next election.