The premise that the United States was, is, and i think will always be a noble one. Liberty for all, and all that jazz. The party system we have currently however, i do not agree with. Politics now a days are not about the American people, and whats best for them. its about whats best for the party, and because of this, the American dream our forefathers had will be lost (in my opinion)
Why? because the ideals of the party are solid, unchanging, simply because the parties themselves are so stubborn in their opposition of the other party, they can't and won't grasp that maybe they are wrong. I am neither a democrat or a republican. I like ideas from both sides. And that is how A president should run this country. He shouldn't be obliged to follow a certain mindset because of his party affiliations. He should make policies based on what is best for the country, not what an ideal calls for.
Now, i know that what is best for the country is often a hard solution to find, but hard does not mean impossible. I am a very statistical person, as statistics for me a fairly solid (i know there are definitely error, but for the most part, statistics can give you numbers that are mostly solid) and i believe that what the president's policies should be are those that have worked the absolute best in the past. New, innovative ideas in my mind are never bad. Some may turn out bad, but mistakes are there to learn from and move on.
Unfortunately, this kind of candidate can never be elected while the party system is still in tact, because a lot of voters are of one party, or the other, and for some reason in this country, a democrat with more than just a few republican ideas is blaspheming atrocity. The solution? abolish the party system. This will do a few things; Free candidates from their party obligations, so they can put policies that encompass both sides in place. No one idea for how a country should be running has ever worked completely efficiently and made a majority of the people completely happy, but with culmination of different ideas, and with freedom always at the back of the mind, we can easily get close
Now, as i am not an expert on politics, i am sure i am missing something that may change my opinion on this matter, but so far, from what i have seen of the government and how it works, this is what i think
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As you said, it's hard to define what's best for the country. The reason that we have parties is because it helps people with similar opinions band together and work for what they think is best. I would agree that perhaps the forefathers did not envision the party-system that we have today, but I believe that they founded America so that it could change and grow. The Constitution is a living document, which is why it can be amended. The 1st amendment allows people freedom of association and thereby party affiliation. The parties are private organizations and no fault of the government. It is the choice of the American people to identify themselves with a party. Yes, it would be nice if party power was lessened and there was more of a chance for an independent candidate to win an election, but as it stands, generally the independents are less in-touch with what the majority of the people want. Party affiliation and support is by choice, not promoted, nor prohibited, by the government. The people's choice to align with a party is what causes the system to prevail.
true true, i placed blame in the wrong place, its not really the governments fault. However, my point still remains, the party system is flawed, creating candidates that don't do what is best for the country, but what is best for the party.
I realize the futility of this rant though... i would say at least 60% of people that vote don't have any other political reason for voting other than supporting the party that they say they are apart of, and as long as this is true, the party system will never die, nor will people realize that the party system's flaws besides those who are willing to find out. Im not saying the party system is bad, its nice, but it doesn't represent the whole. No party can do this, but i think that someone can represent more of the whole than the parties currently represent.
The party system, although it was different, has been around for over 100 years. The problem is that over time the parties have become isolated from each other. I, like you, support some ideas from both parties. It is not so much that the party system needs to be abolished as we need a third party. People often vote in an either or method instead of voting for the best candidate because they fear that their opinion of the best candidate will never win and they will throw away their vote. Just having three major parties would change the political landscape of the country because a third party will either make new ideas acceptable or create a middle ground for the two parties.
~Jessica Mondillo
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/jmondillo
Can a third party really encompass every other voter though? I think if we're trying to include everyone and be more specific interests we'll have 5 or 6 parties and then 6 major candidates in every election which will lead to low margin wins.
I'm not so sure about adding more parties. That will just split the vote more and more, as if there are more and more parties, they will all have to have different views (or different enough to warrant calling themselves different from another party) and people will start latching on to different candidates in such a way that you won't get the most popular guy, you'll get the guy who represents the largest group, and while this sounds good, if there are a bunch of parties, even if he is supported by the largest group, he still probably won't be able to cause the most good (if that makes sense) for the country.
Now i know that what i said is a little drastic for just 1 more party, and perhaps adding another party would be beneficial, as it would at least add another perspective, but there are already multiple parties other than the big 2 aren't there? Honestly, adding another party in my opinion wouldn't help much for a while, as it wouldn't become popular for a long time, if at all