Posted by Jim at April 21st, 2004

With our regularly scheduled season of endless campaigning upon us, I’ve been thinking a lot about politics.

Our political system currently centers around two groups not mentioned in the Constitution–Republicans and Democrats. While other democracies seem to have many more political parties (including communists, socialists, and the Greens), only two parties really matter in the United States. Sure, we have communists, socialists and even some rather odd parties (for example: the Transcendental Meditation party…), but it’s not as if any third party has much of a political presence.

By contrast, third (and fouth, fifth, and sixth…) parties actually matter outside of the United States.

A two party system wasn’t inevitable or even necessarily wanted by all of the United States’ founders. George Washington opposed political parties in general. He seemed to want people in government to represent the interests of the people that elected them without organizing into groups.

Personally, I vary between thinking that a two party system is a good thing (for political stability, for example) or a bad thing (legislation can become a tool in the process of increasing a party’s power rather than doing good for the country).

I hope people reading this blog wil pardon me while I think aloud about it every so often over the next few days (or months…).