POLITICAL PARTIES 1

Political Parties

Christian Hernandez

A.P Government + Politics

Mr. Roman

February 19, 2021

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The struggle of ratification of the Federal Constitution of 1787 started to cause

political divides within the people. The friction between them increased as attention had

shifted from creating a new federal government to now questioning how powerful that

federal government would be. Certain individuals wanted to gain political power, and the

writers of the Constitution disagreed on ideology; so they encouraged the concept of two

political parties. Now what may be described as a “political party”? In simplest terms, a

political party is best described as a group of people who share similar beliefs and

ideologies about government. There had been an abundance of debate whether the

creation of political parties deemed beneficial towards the government. However, it does

more to hinder American democracy than to help it.

When you have two different political parties with marginally different

viewpoints on government, their candidates would have to identify by one or the other.

The voters rally behind the candidate that they happen to agree with the most. The

opinions of the people are defined by the names Republican and Democratic. Rarely do

individuals ever fully agree with the stance of the party they belong to. They hinder the

operation of the republic when they serve their own interests over those of the country.

Robert Yates, an Anti-Federalist of New York, had written an essay under the pen name

of “Brutus”, it opposed the idea that having a large republic would be able to control the

“mischiefs of faction” Yates advocated for a smaller, more decentralized republic; and

that having one that’s larger would not truly represent the people, in fact: it would

threaten their personal liberties and opinions. He argued the problems with federal power,

and that the federal government gains too much power from the Constitution. He then
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goes on to ask “Is it practicable for a country, so large and so numerous to elect a

representation….incapable of transacting public business? It certainly is not.” With the

founding fathers, the idea of a “republic” was really a representative democracy; which is

what ended up causing these political divides in the first place. As people started to

become more educated and figure out what they believe in and their ideologies began to

develop, they would eventually start to take on different sides of these “parties” that

match more of what they believe. Brutus is questioning how if they are governing over

such a vast territory, can they really have a representation that will truly speak the

sentiments of the people? There are going to be so many views that it will end up being

ungovernable.

The point of a democracy is to represent the common person, but when you only

have two groups split down the middle, you won’t have anybody who actually represents

you or your needs, just someone who opposes the other person's wants. Jennifer Lynn

McCoy, a university professor of Political Science at Georgia State University, writes

about how this “severe polarization of politics is affected by three primary factors” The

first problem being exploitation of real grievances from voters. These politicians would

choose divisive issues to highlight and talk about in order to pursue their own political

agenda. She goes on to explain the second problem, how her research shows that “in

extreme polarization, people feel distant from and suspicious of the “other” camp. At the

same time, they feel loyal to, and trusting of, their own camp – without examining their

biases or factual basis of their information.” The people who affiliate themselves with

either party, either identifying themselves as democratic or republican, will become blind

to believing they are entirely right, politically and even morally. This comes to the point
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where any sort of criticism is seen as an attack on their beliefs, and people are not open to

listening to the other parties’ own views and come to a reasonable conclusion. The last

problem is that these words that the parties throw at each other, can escalate to “actual

violence by avid supporters seeking approval from the leader or simply inspired to carry

out an attack against the designated “enemy.”” There have been numerous cases of these

riots and violent outcomes, especially considering earlier in January 2021 with the

supporters of Trump terrorizing and storming the Capitol due to their President losing the

election and believing the voters were not counted properly. From facing growing

inequality to spreading international terrorism. The two-party system has proved to be

severely flawed and causes the American people to be stuck in a constant ideological

war.

While it might seem true that the political information is much easier to

understand, given the obvious limited options for the voters, this limit causes the

government to come to a “standstill”. The opposing parties have major trouble agreeing

on certain issues, and as a result, they cannot discuss anything properly, which may lead

to more problematic approaches. Due to the fact that you only have two parties, this may

seem as an advantage for some since decision-making is relatively easier. However, this

is also a flaw; because there are only 2 parties to pick from, it becomes impossible for

either party to tackle issues and interests of a particular group of voters. They may have

varied interests and will disagree with many points from the party they are trying to

campaign for.

There will most likely always be a 2-party system. It’s an established political

system, leading to many families growing deep roots into a specific party and influencing
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the next generation into campaigning for that specific party. The overall concept is

severely flawed however, with many uprising issues with the lack of representation of the

common person, which you need in order to represent your beliefs. Constant opposition,

outbursts of violence from differing opinions, they all seem to detract from what

democracy aims to achieve. Although they want to achieve security, stability and

prosperity for America, how can they do that when each person has a vastly different idea

of what they want?

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Reference

F. (2017, January 14). 9 Advantages and Disadvantages of the Two Party System.

FutureofWorking.Com. https://futureofworking.com/9-advantages-and-

disadvantages-of-the-two-party-system/

McCoy, J. L. (2018, October 31). Extreme political polarization weakens democracy –

can the US avoid that fate? The Conversation.

https://theconversation.com/extreme-political-polarization-weakens-democracy-

can-the-us-avoid-that-fate-105540

Tekumulia, A. T. (2020, November 16). 1.3 Federalist No. 10 & Brutus 1 Summary.

Fiveable. https://fiveable.me/ap-gov/unit-1/federalist-no-10-and-brutus-1-

summary/study-guide/vMO5BYUPAqA3MSlcjXV1

Yates, R. Y. (1787). Brutus No. 1. New York Journal.