Why is USA (a democracy) politics so dominated by two political parties: the Democratic party and the Republican party?
Is it not possible for other parties to be formed and win a majority in the Congress or the Senate, and even win the Presidency?
These questions have cropped up in my mind as I am doing my informal study of this USA presidential election. Here are a couple of links that give some answers to these questions:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/american-politics/why-america-is-a-two-party-system/
Points 6 and 7 in the above link seem to be very insightful. Essentially they say that the winner take all system in the USA general election (in almost all states of the USA, barring two states) makes it very difficult for any party (or independent candidate) other than the Democratic or Republican parties to win the presidency. Effectively, the other (serious/significant) candidates act as spoilers for the Democratic or Republican candidate, as they themselves stand very poor chances of winning.
To make it even tougher for third party candidates, appealing aspects of the campaign of popular third party candidates, can easily be adopted by the Republican or Democratic candidates themselves as they are not bound to strictly adhere to a particular set of policies by their parties.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_parties_in_the_United_States
Some extracts from the above wiki link are given below. Note that these extracts taken together are quite long but very informative (though shorter than the wiki page):
Throughout most of its history, American politics have been dominated by a two-party system. However, the United States Constitution has always been silent on the issue of political parties; at the time it was signed in 1787, there were no parties in the nation. Indeed, no nation in the world had voter-based political parties. The need to win popular support in a republic led to the American invention of voter-based political parties in the 1790s. Americans were especially innovative in devising new campaign techniques that linked public opinion with public policy through the party.
Political scientists and historians have divided the development of America's two-party system into five eras. The modern two-party system consists of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Several third parties also operate in the U.S., and from time to time elect someone to local office. The largest third party since the 1980s is the Libertarian Party.
...
The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the U.S. Founded in 1828 by Andrew Jackson, it is the oldest extant voter-based political party in the world. Since 1854, American politics has largely been the story of the battle of the Democrats versus their closely matched adversary, the Republican Party.
...
The Democratic Party since 1912 has positioned itself as the liberal party on domestic issues. The economic philosophy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which has strongly influenced modern American liberalism, has shaped much of the party's agenda since 1932. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition controlled the White House until 1968 with the exception of Eisenhower 1953–1961. Since the mid-20th century, Democrats have generally been in the center-left and currently support social justice, social liberalism, a mixed economy, and the welfare state. Democrats are currently strongest on the East and West Coasts and in major American urban centers. African-Americans and Latinos tend to be disproportionately Democratic, as do trade unions.
...
The president of the United States, Barack Obama, is the 15th Democrat to hold the office, and from the 2006 midterm elections until the 2014 midterm elections, the Democratic Party was the majority party in the United States Senate.
A 2011 USA Today review of state voter rolls indicates that registered Democrats declined in 25 of 28 states (some states do not register voters by party). Democrats were still the largest political party with more than 42 million voters (compared with 30 million Republicans and 24 million independents).
...
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States of America. Since the 1880s it has been nicknamed (by the media) the "Grand Old Party" or GOP, although it is younger than the Democratic Party.
Founded in 1854 by Northern anti-slavery activists and modernizers, the Republican Party rose to prominence in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln, who used the party machinery to support victory in the American Civil War. The GOP dominated national politics during the Third Party System, from 1854 to 1896, and the Fourth Party System from 1896 to 1932.
Since its founding, the Republican Party has been the more corporatist of the two American political parties, often favoring policies that aid American interests. As a party whose power was once based on the voting clout of Union Army veterans, this party has traditionally supported more aggressive defense measures and more lavish veteran's benefits. Though initially founded to oppose slavery, following Richard Nixon's "Southern Strategy" in 1968, the Republican Party has become the less progressive party in areas of racial and social justice. Today, the Republican Party supports an American conservative platform, with further foundations in economic liberalism, fiscal conservatism, and social conservatism.
The Republican Party tends to be strongest in the Southern United States and the "flyover states", as well as suburban and rural areas in other states. One significant base of support for the Republican Party are Evangelical Christians, who have wielded significant clout in the party since the early 1970s.
...
The Libertarian Party was founded on December 11, 1971. It is one of the largest continuing third parties in the United States, claiming more than 331,000 registered voters across all 50 states. They currently have about 144 elected officials, more than any of the other minor parties.
The 2012 Libertarian Party nominee for United States President was former New Mexico governor, Gary Johnson. He achieved ballot access in every state except for Michigan (only as a write-in candidate) and Oklahoma. He received over one million votes in the election, the highest for any candidate since the founding of the party in 1971.
The Libertarian Party's core mission is to reduce the size, influence and expenditures of all levels of government. To this effect, the party supports minimally regulated markets, a less powerful federal government, strong civil liberties, drug liberalization, separation of church and state, open immigration, non-interventionism and neutrality in diplomatic relations, free trade and free movement to all foreign countries, and a more representative republic.
...
In the United States, the Green Party has been active as a third party since the 1980s. The party first gained widespread public attention during Ralph Nader's second presidential run in 2000. Currently, the primary national Green Party organization in the U.S. is the Green Party of the United States, which has eclipsed the earlier Greens/Green Party USA.
The Green Party in the United States has won elected office mostly at the local level; most winners of public office in the United States who are considered Greens have won nonpartisan-ballot elections (that is, elections in which the candidates' party affiliations were not printed on the ballot). In 2005, the Party had 305,000 registered members in the District of Columbia and 20 states that allow party registration. During the 2006 elections the party had ballot access in 31 states.
Greens emphasize environmentalism, non-hierarchical participatory democracy, social justice, respect for diversity, peace and nonviolence.
...
The Constitution Party is a national political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers Party in 1992. The party's official name was changed to the Constitution Party in 1999; however, some state affiliate parties are known under different names.
The Constitution Party advocates a platform that they believe reflects the Founding Fathers' original intent of the U.S. Constitution, principles found in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and morals taken from the Bible.
In 2006, Rick Jore of Montana became the first Constitution Party candidate elected to a state-level office, though the Constitution Party of Montana had disaffiliated itself from the national party a short time before the election.
The Constitution Party's 2012 presidential nominee was Virgil Goode.
...
Besides the Constitution, Green and Libertarian parties, there are many other political parties that receive only minimal support and only appear on the ballot in one or a few states.
...
Some political candidates, and many voters, choose not to identify with a particular political party. In some states, independents are not allowed to vote in primary elections, but in others, they can vote in any primary election of their choice. Independents can be of any political persuasion, but the term most commonly refers to politicians or voters who hold centrist views that incorporate facets of both Democratic and Republican ideology.
...
Because American political parties are more loosely organized than those in other countries, not all members of a party subscribe to all of its officially held positions, the usual degree of variation generally being higher for the larger parties. Party members may hold different views on legislation to be enacted at the state or federal levels. And elected officials once in office may act contradictory to many of his or her party's positions (this had led to terms such as "Republican In Name Only"). Furthermore, the modern American political spectrum, and the usage of left–right politics, differs from the rest of the world. For example, the Democratic Party, the primary left-of-center party in the country, generally supports a social liberal position rather than a social democratic one.
...
The United States Constitution has never formally addressed the issue of political parties. The Founding Fathers did not originally intend for American politics to be partisan. In Federalist Papers No. 9 and No. 10, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, respectively, wrote specifically about the dangers of domestic political factions. In addition, the first President of the United States, George Washington, was not a member of any political party at the time of his election or throughout his tenure as president. Furthermore, he hoped that political parties would not be formed, fearing conflict and stagnation, as outlined in his Farewell Address. Nevertheless, the beginnings of the American two-party system emerged from his immediate circle of advisers. Hamilton and Madison, who wrote the aforementioned Federalist Papers against political factions, ended up being the core leaders in this emerging party system. It was the split camps of Federalists, given rise with Hamilton as a leader, and Democratic-Republicans, with Madison and Thomas Jefferson helming this political faction, that created the environment in which partisanship, once distasteful, came to being.
--- end wiki extracts ---
Please note that I have a NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about the USA presidential elections. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me voting in these elections.
[I thank Wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
These questions have cropped up in my mind as I am doing my informal study of this USA presidential election. Here are a couple of links that give some answers to these questions:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/american-politics/why-america-is-a-two-party-system/
Points 6 and 7 in the above link seem to be very insightful. Essentially they say that the winner take all system in the USA general election (in almost all states of the USA, barring two states) makes it very difficult for any party (or independent candidate) other than the Democratic or Republican parties to win the presidency. Effectively, the other (serious/significant) candidates act as spoilers for the Democratic or Republican candidate, as they themselves stand very poor chances of winning.
To make it even tougher for third party candidates, appealing aspects of the campaign of popular third party candidates, can easily be adopted by the Republican or Democratic candidates themselves as they are not bound to strictly adhere to a particular set of policies by their parties.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_parties_in_the_United_States
Some extracts from the above wiki link are given below. Note that these extracts taken together are quite long but very informative (though shorter than the wiki page):
Throughout most of its history, American politics have been dominated by a two-party system. However, the United States Constitution has always been silent on the issue of political parties; at the time it was signed in 1787, there were no parties in the nation. Indeed, no nation in the world had voter-based political parties. The need to win popular support in a republic led to the American invention of voter-based political parties in the 1790s. Americans were especially innovative in devising new campaign techniques that linked public opinion with public policy through the party.
Political scientists and historians have divided the development of America's two-party system into five eras. The modern two-party system consists of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Several third parties also operate in the U.S., and from time to time elect someone to local office. The largest third party since the 1980s is the Libertarian Party.
...
The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the U.S. Founded in 1828 by Andrew Jackson, it is the oldest extant voter-based political party in the world. Since 1854, American politics has largely been the story of the battle of the Democrats versus their closely matched adversary, the Republican Party.
...
The Democratic Party since 1912 has positioned itself as the liberal party on domestic issues. The economic philosophy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which has strongly influenced modern American liberalism, has shaped much of the party's agenda since 1932. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition controlled the White House until 1968 with the exception of Eisenhower 1953–1961. Since the mid-20th century, Democrats have generally been in the center-left and currently support social justice, social liberalism, a mixed economy, and the welfare state. Democrats are currently strongest on the East and West Coasts and in major American urban centers. African-Americans and Latinos tend to be disproportionately Democratic, as do trade unions.
...
The president of the United States, Barack Obama, is the 15th Democrat to hold the office, and from the 2006 midterm elections until the 2014 midterm elections, the Democratic Party was the majority party in the United States Senate.
A 2011 USA Today review of state voter rolls indicates that registered Democrats declined in 25 of 28 states (some states do not register voters by party). Democrats were still the largest political party with more than 42 million voters (compared with 30 million Republicans and 24 million independents).
...
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States of America. Since the 1880s it has been nicknamed (by the media) the "Grand Old Party" or GOP, although it is younger than the Democratic Party.
Founded in 1854 by Northern anti-slavery activists and modernizers, the Republican Party rose to prominence in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln, who used the party machinery to support victory in the American Civil War. The GOP dominated national politics during the Third Party System, from 1854 to 1896, and the Fourth Party System from 1896 to 1932.
Since its founding, the Republican Party has been the more corporatist of the two American political parties, often favoring policies that aid American interests. As a party whose power was once based on the voting clout of Union Army veterans, this party has traditionally supported more aggressive defense measures and more lavish veteran's benefits. Though initially founded to oppose slavery, following Richard Nixon's "Southern Strategy" in 1968, the Republican Party has become the less progressive party in areas of racial and social justice. Today, the Republican Party supports an American conservative platform, with further foundations in economic liberalism, fiscal conservatism, and social conservatism.
The Republican Party tends to be strongest in the Southern United States and the "flyover states", as well as suburban and rural areas in other states. One significant base of support for the Republican Party are Evangelical Christians, who have wielded significant clout in the party since the early 1970s.
[From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyover_country:Former President George W. Bush is the 19th and most recent Republican to hold that office.
Flyover country, flyover states, and Flyoverland are American phrases describing the parts of the United States between the East and the West Coasts. The terms, which are often used pejoratively, refer to the interior regions of the country passed over during transcontinental flights, particularly flights between the nation's two most populous urban agglomerations, the Northeastern Megalopolis and Southern California. "Flyover country" thus refers to the part of the country that some Americans only view by air and never actually see in person at ground level.
---end Flyover-country wiki extract ---]
...
The Libertarian Party was founded on December 11, 1971. It is one of the largest continuing third parties in the United States, claiming more than 331,000 registered voters across all 50 states. They currently have about 144 elected officials, more than any of the other minor parties.
The 2012 Libertarian Party nominee for United States President was former New Mexico governor, Gary Johnson. He achieved ballot access in every state except for Michigan (only as a write-in candidate) and Oklahoma. He received over one million votes in the election, the highest for any candidate since the founding of the party in 1971.
The Libertarian Party's core mission is to reduce the size, influence and expenditures of all levels of government. To this effect, the party supports minimally regulated markets, a less powerful federal government, strong civil liberties, drug liberalization, separation of church and state, open immigration, non-interventionism and neutrality in diplomatic relations, free trade and free movement to all foreign countries, and a more representative republic.
...
In the United States, the Green Party has been active as a third party since the 1980s. The party first gained widespread public attention during Ralph Nader's second presidential run in 2000. Currently, the primary national Green Party organization in the U.S. is the Green Party of the United States, which has eclipsed the earlier Greens/Green Party USA.
The Green Party in the United States has won elected office mostly at the local level; most winners of public office in the United States who are considered Greens have won nonpartisan-ballot elections (that is, elections in which the candidates' party affiliations were not printed on the ballot). In 2005, the Party had 305,000 registered members in the District of Columbia and 20 states that allow party registration. During the 2006 elections the party had ballot access in 31 states.
Greens emphasize environmentalism, non-hierarchical participatory democracy, social justice, respect for diversity, peace and nonviolence.
...
The Constitution Party is a national political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers Party in 1992. The party's official name was changed to the Constitution Party in 1999; however, some state affiliate parties are known under different names.
The Constitution Party advocates a platform that they believe reflects the Founding Fathers' original intent of the U.S. Constitution, principles found in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and morals taken from the Bible.
In 2006, Rick Jore of Montana became the first Constitution Party candidate elected to a state-level office, though the Constitution Party of Montana had disaffiliated itself from the national party a short time before the election.
The Constitution Party's 2012 presidential nominee was Virgil Goode.
...
Besides the Constitution, Green and Libertarian parties, there are many other political parties that receive only minimal support and only appear on the ballot in one or a few states.
...
Some political candidates, and many voters, choose not to identify with a particular political party. In some states, independents are not allowed to vote in primary elections, but in others, they can vote in any primary election of their choice. Independents can be of any political persuasion, but the term most commonly refers to politicians or voters who hold centrist views that incorporate facets of both Democratic and Republican ideology.
...
Because American political parties are more loosely organized than those in other countries, not all members of a party subscribe to all of its officially held positions, the usual degree of variation generally being higher for the larger parties. Party members may hold different views on legislation to be enacted at the state or federal levels. And elected officials once in office may act contradictory to many of his or her party's positions (this had led to terms such as "Republican In Name Only"). Furthermore, the modern American political spectrum, and the usage of left–right politics, differs from the rest of the world. For example, the Democratic Party, the primary left-of-center party in the country, generally supports a social liberal position rather than a social democratic one.
...
The United States Constitution has never formally addressed the issue of political parties. The Founding Fathers did not originally intend for American politics to be partisan. In Federalist Papers No. 9 and No. 10, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, respectively, wrote specifically about the dangers of domestic political factions. In addition, the first President of the United States, George Washington, was not a member of any political party at the time of his election or throughout his tenure as president. Furthermore, he hoped that political parties would not be formed, fearing conflict and stagnation, as outlined in his Farewell Address. Nevertheless, the beginnings of the American two-party system emerged from his immediate circle of advisers. Hamilton and Madison, who wrote the aforementioned Federalist Papers against political factions, ended up being the core leaders in this emerging party system. It was the split camps of Federalists, given rise with Hamilton as a leader, and Democratic-Republicans, with Madison and Thomas Jefferson helming this political faction, that created the environment in which partisanship, once distasteful, came to being.
--- end wiki extracts ---
Please note that I have a NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about the USA presidential elections. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me voting in these elections.
[I thank Wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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