The Necessity of Political Parties for Political Balance
Written By: Tony Smith
Throughout the history of the United States, there have been two main political parties. Starting with the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, the parties have developed over the years to the current system - Democrats and Republicans. Although the freedom to create new political parties exists, no other party has been able to gain the support they need to develop. These minor parties usually focus on specific issues and lack the following to win a national election. The majority of the voters believe their vote will count only when it is used to select a candidate from one of the two major parties.
Many of the Founding Fathers had a negative view of political parties. Despite their objections, many of these men found themselves affiliated with a political party during their careers in government. As parties came into being, one would gain and hold prominence for many years. In our history, five major party eras have emerged.
From 1796 to 1828 the first political parties were formed. During the time when our country was in its formative years, two opposing factions arose. Each was concerned with how the new government was to be organized. The Federalists believed in a strong central government and supported the ratification of the Constitution. Additionally, they supported industrialization, a national bank, and government aid to build roads and canals. The Anti-Federalists - who were eventually called the Democratic - Republican Party, held the opposite views. The Anti-Federalists strongly supported the rights of the states. They were opposed to a central government, and supported the Articles of Confederation. They were opposed to a national bank and favored farming over manufacturing. They were firmly against the government helping to further industrialization by building roads and canals. The Federalists won their cause for the Constitution. However, efforts by the Democratic-Republican Party to influence people to the Anti-Federalist cause eventually weakened the Federalists. By 1824, the party was virtually non-existent.
Following the splintering of the Democratic-Republican Party. Two major parties dominated the political landscape: the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay, that grew from the National Republican Party; and the Democratic Party, led by Andrew Jackson. The Democrats supported the primacy of the Presidency over the other branches of government, and opposed both the Bank of the United States as well as modernizing programs that they felt would build up industry at the expense of the taxpayer.
The Whigs, on the other hand, advocated the primacy of Congress over the executive branch as well as policies of modernization and economic protectionism. Central political battles of this era were the Bank War and the Spoils system of federal patronage. The 1850s saw the collapse of the Whig party, largely as a result of decline in its leadership and a major intra-party split over slavery as a result of the Compromise of 1850. In addition, the fading of old economic issues removed many of the unifying forces holding the party together.
This next era is the modern of political parties in the United States because there was no political party that could break through the emergence of this 2 party political system that has dominated the political landscape now since 1854. This is also the first time that a political party from its inception won the following Presidential election. This time period marks a time of deep division in the country similar to what you have today. Although today, the 2 party system has such a hold on the people that it is virtually impossible for a new party to emerge in the political landscape.
In 1856, because of the corruption of the Old Democratic-Republican Party, and the fall of the Whigs, there was the emergence of the anti-slavery Republican Party (nicknamed "GOP"), which adopted many of the economic policies of the Whigs, such as national banks, railroads, high tariffs, homesteads and aid to land grant colleges.
Civil war and Reconstruction issues polarized the parties until the Compromise of 1877, which ended the latter. Thus both parties became broad-based voting coalitions and the race issue pulled newly enfranchised African Americans (Freedmen) into the Republican Party while white southerners (Redeemers) joined the Democratic Party. The Democratic coalition also had conservative pro-business Bourbon Democrats, traditional Democrats in the North (many of them former Copperheads), and Catholic immigrants, among others. The Republican coalition also consisted of businessmen, shop owners, skilled craftsmen, clerks, and professionals who were attracted to the party's modernization policies.
This period also corresponded to the Progressive Era, and was dominated by the Republican Party. It began after the Republicans blamed the Democrats for the Panic of 1893, which later resulted in William McKinley's victory over William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 presidential election.
The central domestic issues changed to government regulation of railroads and large corporations ("trusts"), the protective tariff, the role of labor unions, child labor, the need for a new banking system, corruption in party politics, primary elections, direct election of senators, racial segregation, efficiency in government, women's suffrage, and control of immigration. Most voting blocs continued unchanged, but some realignment took place, giving Republicans dominance in the industrial Northeast and new strength in the border states. Historians have long debated why no Labor Party emerged in the United States, in contrast to Western Europe.
As the 20th century began to roll around the politics of the day began to change and you saw yet another shift in the political parties. A progressive wave took over the Democrat Party in 1932, and lasted until 1963 after the assassination of President Kennedy. This marked a Coup de ta in the Democrat Party, and from this point on both political parties served the interests on the Oligarchy that has developed right under the noses of the American people.
The New Deal Coalition beginning in 1933. The Republicans began losing support after the Great Depression, giving rise to Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the activist New Deal. They promoted American liberalism, anchored in a coalition of specific liberal groups, especially ethno-religious constituencies (Catholics, Jews, African Americans), white Southerners, well-organized labor unions, urban machines, progressive intellectuals, and populist farm groups.
Opposition Republicans were split between a conservative wing, led by Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft, and a more successful moderate wing exemplified by the politics of Northeastern leaders such as Nelson Rockefeller, Jacob Javits, and Henry Cabot Lodge. The latter steadily lost influence inside the GOP after 1964.
In the mid-1960s when the New Deal coalition died, and the Oligarchy took over both parties, there were pockets of resistance. Such as in the early 1980s when the Moral Majority and the Reagan coalition were formed. But was quickly eliminated with the attempted assassination of President Reagan. Vice President George H. W. Bush took over the White House and ran it until he was elected President, and ran it for a total of 10 years. During this time in 1984 the Green Party was created as an alternately to the duopoly that had been formed.
Bush, then handed the Presidency over to an upbeat, likable Bill Clinton to move the NWO Bush announced in 1991 forward. Bill Clinton introduced the Third Way doctrine which put in stone the Oligarchic control of both political parties, which we now refer to as the Oligarchic Duopoly.
In 1992 the reform party pushed backed against the duopoly by running Ross Perot, but did not break through enough. This began the 3rd party steals Republican/democrat votes narrative, but it started with the Republicans. In the mid-1990s during the Republican Revolution is again where the people pushed back against the Duopoly, but were quickly silenced. The People's Green Party also in this time pushed back against the duopoly by running their first Presidential candidate in the great Ralph Nader. The People's Green Party again ran Nader and he received 2.8 million votes. This again began the Democrat scapegoating of the People's Green Party for their failures to be the Party they claim to be.
Overall since the 1930s, the Democrats positioned themselves more towards liberalism through the Third Way Doctrine making the party Neo-Liberal in deed, and Progressive in rhetoric while the conservatives increasingly dominated the GOP in word, but in deep they are Neo-Cons. However, new voter coalitions emerged during the latter half of the 20th century, with conservatives and the Republicans becoming dominant in the South, rural areas, and suburbs; while liberals and the Democrats increasingly started to rely on a coalition of African-Americans, Hispanics and white urban progressives. As both parties actually in deed do the bidding of their corporate Oligarchic donors.
It is time for the American people to wake up, and stop voting against their own interests. The People's Green Party, and its platform is supported by 68% of Americans, but the People's Green Party is not making that up in votes. The People's Green Party had to overcome ballot access, and now voter/election fraud. The only way the People's Green Party can over come these obstacles is for the American people to stop voting against their own interests, and vote for the People's Green Party. Ask yourself this. Is propaganda holding me back? You will find out if you are honest with yourself. The answer is yes. Parties are not meant to last forever. Just long enough to get the job done until it is unable to get the job done. Then you create a new party, and start the process all over again. Humans over time are corrupt by nature. This is why a constitutional republic exists in the first place.
