The Bipartisan Myth

We were told back in the 4th or as late as the 6th grade that the United States has a two-party system. I know I believed it. Maybe I was just really trusting, naïve, and gullible? By now, I am pretty sure it was a lie. Perhaps those that told me were themselves trusting, naïve and gullible? But it is still a lie. 

We do not have any party system at all. The US Constitution says nothing at all about parties. Certainly, the clauses regarding Congress do not require a bill to have votes from both parties to become law. This is a point Republicans often make when Democrats pass a bill without a single Republican vote. In fact, since it does not mention parties, why do we think we have a two-party system? Wouldn’t a three-party system accommodate right wing thought, left wing thought and centrist thought? Should we add a fourth for the group proclaiming all politicians are corrupt? 

I think not. 

If one thing was clear from our understanding of the Constitutional Convention was that the role of political parties in the new government was among the many issues where consensus was impossible. They ignored the issue, understanding parties would form, but the Constitution itself would block domination by any one faction. And for better or worse, this theory held on for a while.  

As major debates rippled through the electorate, parties would shift. People would move from one party to another based on their personal positions. This all changed during the lead up to and aftermath of the Civil War. Thereafter, the party became the focal point, not the positions of its members. Certainly, there were outside influences that helped to create this new stagnant two-party system. Post-war industrialization, along with large numbers of immigrants entering the country, the addition of new states, and advances in communication technology provided shortcuts to inform the electorate on issues. The framers designed the Constitution to settle differences among the states, and these changes increased the power of political parties.

But the biggest force that caused the US political system to solidify around two and only two parties was the rise of big money capitalism. Any of those forces all by themselves would harden the hold of a party, but all happening at once spelled death to diversity in the political market.  

Today, we live in a political culture consisting of two parties and only two. The myth that envelope the two parties is the belief pushed on the public that if the two parties work together and compromise, then all will be well. The belief that the two parties sufficiently represent all sides of all issues builds this myth. If both parties agree, then we do not need any further review. Instead, we end up with policy stagnation. Nothing changes because it literally takes an entire generation to alter any political paradigm.  

Certainly, the two parties are not the same as they were during and after the Civil War. Generation by generation, the parties have changed. Sometimes, for a time, they have merged into a center position on key issues, while they each are the last word from the right or the left on any other view. Over time, the choices for the people to align with shrink and any view not accepted by either party becomes an outlier or ignored. Let us not squeeze everything into a binary choice while our nation’s problems remain and dissatisfaction with the status quo grows.  

Bipartisan politics is two dimensional and cannot generate solutions. Bipartisanship is the problem. We are in a multidimensional world; we should think holistically. 

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