Does the dual party system need to evolve?
“The most important conversation out of this [presidential election] is that the dual party system is not effective anymore,” said Anisha Paul, a legal foreign resident in Reno originally born in Saudi Arabia. This was the only positive thing she could see coming out from the election.
The United States is a democracy with a dual party system established more than 200 years ago. Most other democracies, however, have proportional representation of different political parties whereas in the United States it’s a winner take all system. Because of this system, only two political parties have much power in the U.S.
“Everyone is just complaining about how much they dislike their two candidates, but there are more than two!” [spoken in Spanish] said Cesar Rodriguez, father of a family who moved from Spain to Reno last year.
The political system in Spain, and in many other countries in Europe and around the world, have supporters distributed between more than two parties. Anisha Paul has her roots in India and is passionate about politics. She explained that while India is a democracy with a strong central government, they no longer have a dual party system but a multi-party system.
“Americans are super competitive, and it is crazy to see how many extremists are out there,” said Paloma Delicado, mother of another Spanish family living in Reno.
While American democracy is about voting for what you want, and having the freedom to do so, most US citizens have expressed discontent with both presidential candidates. Few people truly stand for all the values the presidential candidates have, from the Republicans to the Democrats. However, society does not seem to see outside the box. On most US ballots this year, voters had a choice of four candidates for president.
Gary Johnson for example is the candidate for the Libertarian Party.
“Wait, who is this?” said Almudena Calvo, Rodriguez’s wife, when he mentioned Gary Johnson’s name.
Yes, there are actually more than two parties in the U.S., but they are not encouraged because of how the political system is built. People have life-long attachments to certain parties and show a strong feeling when standing for the blue or red. Campaigns and media seem to exclude third party candidates, although information is available online. Ballotpedia does a good job on laying them all out.
“I hope that this election will make these conversations come up,” Paul said. “I’m curious to see how third parties will influence this election.”
