Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America

by Lee Drutman

The current political system has no mechanism for self-correction. Single-winner plurality elections have turned the two major parties into separate regional parties, both dominated by representatives from the places where strong partisans are most likely to be surrounded by other strong partisans. The close balance of national power and the repeated pendulum cycle of shifting partisan control send a strong signal to party leaders: Under periods of divided government, hold out for unified government. Under periods of unified government, get as much done as possible, by whatever means possible. Your time is limited. In this era, Congress has become dysfunctional and weak. Gridlock and centralized partisan leadership have replaced flexible and fluid bipartisan compromise-oriented legislating, and Congress hasn’t had a serious burst of bipartisan lawmaking since 1990. A weak Congress makes for a more powerful presidency, and a more powerful presidency raises the stakes of elections, which makes polarization worse. It’s a self-reinforcing doom loop, with no obvious way out in the existing two-party system.