Political Parties: Shout, yee-haw or blow hell no?

Political Parties are organizations that seek to attain political power within a government
and are essential to the governments development and institution. These political parties serve as
the essential link between the state and society, but lately, the political parties have seemed to be
doing the United States a great disadvantage with frequent bi-partisan disagreements and
gridlock. Although frustrating at times, a nation without these strong and competitive political
parties will inevitably be a nation in which the power lies in the confused voter and a naturally
authoritarian President. The power to change how we view politics is in the hand of the voter and
most definitely not in hands of a corrupt politician looking for incumbency and a paycheck.

As the United States of America approaches democracy, its eligible citizens vote in
politicians who will be able to voice their fellow citizens opinions; at least thats how it is
supposed to work. Unfortunately eligible voters do not hold up their part of the deal. Only 48
percent of eligible voters vote in national lower house elections. (1) This low voter turnout is
what creates unhappy, and sometimes, hypocritical citizens. The opinions of the 70 million
eligible voters who vote will count, but the other 76,311,000 people who dont vote wont have
their opinion heard. This low voter turnout results in only a fraction of the countries population
to be heard, and some issues to not be brought to light. This is what creates a generally
dissatisfied population in the United States. If voters do not vote, then opinions both national,
and international will not be met. The turn out of voters also depends greatly on the sex, and
socio-economic standing of the voter. In the 2008 presidential election 78 percent off eligible
voters who made more than 150,000 dollars a year or more voted in comparison to the 41 percent
of eligible voters who made less than 15,000 dollars a year. Also in the 2008 presidential

election, 7.8 more women than men voted. (2) Some eligible voters even argue that they do not
vote because they feel, due to the Electoral College, that their popular vote doesnt matter. In
order to fix these low voter turnouts by targeting the statistics we have we would have to have
Fair Representation Voting which means that the candidates should be from various socioeconomic standings and of different races and gender. We would also have to have a National
Popular Vote for president, which would allow every vote in every state, to be equal to one
another. This would expand the presidents campaign from just ten states, to all fifty states!

Although the United States of America has their two majority parties ingrained in them
since the almost existence of the government, many citizens must realize that the opposing party
sometimes support their decisions greater than the party they belong to. Political parties are not a
requirement to be had in the Constitution and the only reason why we have them is because of
popular decision. We as a nation have split our views into two parties; one representing a
generally conservative view, and another representing a progressive and more liberal view on
how the government should be run. These two parties at power, Democrats and Republicans,
help a voter identify what the candidate stands for, but many voters, they fail to realize that these
politicians do in fact have individual beliefs and that they may not fit the umbrella definition of
what their party stands for. This lack of knowledge is simply from ignorance and laziness to
educate him or herself on what the candidate believes in. Many eligible voters view their
opposing party as a general stereotype that is portrayed through the media, while in fact many
candidates; although on opposing sides, share greater similar beliefs to them than a candidate
from their own party. If people constantly blindly vote for a candidate that is simply in their
party, the United States will continue to be at a bi-partisan disagreement and constant gridlock,
thus resulting in the frustration and disagreement towards the government.

Political Parties are not always corrupt, and the voters are not always uneducated. The US
citizens must realize the importance of these parties. These parties voice a general opinion of the
people who belong to them and they keep the power equal within the branches of governments.
These political parties also make sure that there are multiple opinions on how the conflict should
be handled, thus creating less of a one-sided debate. When the positions are satisfied by majority
vote, most citizens are content with who represents them. Without these political parties we
would have people in power that may share all of the same opinions on certain conflicts and
many of the citizens opinions would not be voiced or argued for. Only 19 of the 196 Countries in
the world operate without political parties. These 19 countries all have on thing in common, they
are all ran by authoritarian rule. Political parties, although hard to believe at times, are beneficial
to the United States and allow us to approach democracy.

United States citizens will not advocate for their political parties to be taken away, but
they can show their frustration by voting a new political party to power. United States citizens
have the power to vote in third parties. A third party is, any party contending for votes that
failed to outpoll either of its two strongest rivals (or, in the context of an impending election, is
considered highly unlikely to do so). (3) Some third parties such as the Green Party of the
United Stars, the Constitution Party, and the Libertarian Party are trending in the United States:
All having over 75,000 registered voters. These third parties influence the ideas of the two major
political parties. Because these parties are becoming popular, it means that more United States
Citizens are agreeing with what the party stands for. This influences the Democratic and
Republican Party to adapt some of their ideas and to appease the citizens in order to maintain
control in the government. Third parties sometimes expose issues that are overlooked by the two

major parties. For example, the Green Party explains on their website, Greens want to stop
runaway climate change, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions at least 40% by 2020 and 95%
by 2050, over 1990 levels. (4) The Green Party is a political party that is very liberal in the view
on how the government should be run, and they also focus on social issues such as
environmental control, and healthcare. Their emphasis in these topics influence some voters to
take interest in them and thus resulting in the major parties adapting their popular ideas in order
to remain in power.

United States Citizens may be frustrated with these political parties, but we all understand
that we would not live under the government we live in without them. Eligible, and soon to
eligible voters must educate themselves on party platforms and their effectiveness. The only
person who has the power to change how we view politics is the voter. It is evident that without
these political parties, the United States would fall into an authoritarian government and the
power will be in the hands of the few nobles at power resulting in a dissatisfied nation. The
United States is approaching democracy through the effectiveness of these parties and the voters
themselves.

Work Cited
(1) - "Voting Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. N.p., 6 June 2009. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
(2) - "FairVote.org | What Affects Voter Turnout Rates." FairVote. N.p., 4 Feb. 2010. Web. 04
Nov. 2014.
(3) - "Third Party." TheFreeDictionary.com. N.p., 5 Jan. 2008. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.
(4) - "Green Party - III. ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY." Green Party - III. ECOLOGICAL
SUSTAINABILITY. Green Party, 1 Jan. 2001. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.

Frank Auletti
Mrs. LaSalle
US Government honors
2 November 2014