The Libertarian Party. The Green Party. The Natural Law Party. The Reform Party. These are some of the many minor, or so called "third political parties" that exist as honest to God, whamzoom political alternatives to the two major parties. But what do they all have in common? To be blunt about it, they all have an effectiveness rating of close to zero when it comes to actually influencing politics or the lives of everyday Americans. And this is an important point to consider when the question of whether a multiparty American political system is viable. If it was, these various parties would not be at best, parties that manage to get a scant few percentage points of the vote, and at worst, annoyances on the local ballots. These parties would most likely have a larger role in American government if a multiparty system was viable. But yet they simply exist, failing to attract enough voters to turn their message from a dream into reality.
But the fact that these parties are unable to get enough votes to turn American politics into a multiparty system is only one reason why a major third party simply cannot exist in the American political realm. For History has shown that the existence of more than two major parties in American politics is an existence which is short lived and fleeting. The only minor party ever to gain a permanent position in American politics is the Republican party, and this was primarily due to the strong abolitionist movement and the Civil War. The new Republican party helped ruin the old Whig party, and the GOP eventually (d)evolved to what it is today, the seemingly coeternal sparring partner of the Democratic party. But could a third party even exist in the political realm today? I believe that it is an impossibility.
For example, say the impossible happens and a significant portion of the American voters in 1996 decide to vote for the Reform Party (this is Perot's latest hobby). With the Electoral College System, it is almost certain that an even three way race will lead to no clear winner, throwing the election to the House of Representatives. This fact alone should scare most Americans. But if the Reform Party was also to gain in that election a good portion of the seats in the House and the Senate, enough to allow them to be an effective legislative force (read: cause damage), it would lead to gridlock that the country has never seen, even including the Bush presidency. Nothing would get done, whether it was a good policy or a bad policy. It is hard enough for two parties to compromise on something. Can you imagine the conference committees, the havoc in the subcomittees if a third party jumped in and added more chaos to an already politically charged situation? You can plainly see the result: very little would get done and the major role of the political parties would be to see how much they can scream at each other. We can see that structurally the American legislative branch is incapable of handling three or more parties.
The American government is designed for two major parties, and leaves little room for more participants. For while third parties are nice to have in theory as a refuge from the bumbling of the two major political giants, we do not live in a parliamentary democracy; where party X that gets X% of the votes gets X% of the seats and much of the time is spent attempting to build a coalition that can effectively rule. If it was like this, you could have minor parties and splinter factions in the Congress to your heart's content. But it is necessary to face reality, and realize that two parties is all that our system will and has maintained throughout the past century and for centuries to come.
I personally feel that it would be far more effective for the minor parties to become smaller factions within the major parties themselves. That would do more good. It seems entirely plausible to me for the Republican Party to have a strong Libertarian streak, for example. It would seem that the Libertarians could change from putting up candidates that seem to frequently lose and instead, work in the selection of candidates or run as Republicans with a strong Libertarian streak, attracting more votes and winning elections due to that party affiliation. For as the old saying goes, "If you can't beat them, join them." And in politics, winning is a very important part of the game.
Benjamin Kepple is the Associate Publisher of the Review and feels that the creators of Beavis and Butthead should receive NEA grants. Everyone else does.