Republic Government & Parties

[Kitsune]

Does anyone know how a government based on the Us Constitution could be formed and keep out the two party system which seems to be immovable?

[The Cleric]

There will never be a successful third party. The Democrats or Republicans will always win; however, they may have ideology changes that align them more with some third party ideals.

[NapoleonGH]

there have been temporarily succcessful third parties that have gotten a few members into congress in the past, like the Populists in the late 19th century. There is a possibility for a third party to garner a fair amount of the seats in congress, but only if people became disillusioned with the dems or republicans, which can very well happen in the near future.

[Symmetry]

There will never be a successful third party. The Democrats or Republicans will always win; however, they may have ideology changes that align them more with some third party ideals.

Not quite true, there have been periods of multiple parties or one party, but they don't last long before falling back into two-party stability. I can imagine events that would turn the Republicans or Democrats into regional parties, and let some other national third party (reform, green or libertarian probably) take over the opposition.

[Symmetry]

there have been temporarily succcessful third parties that have gotten a few members into congress in the past, like the Populists in the late 19th century. There is a possibility for a third party to garner a fair amount of the seats in congress, but only if people became disillusioned with the dems or republicans, which can very well happen in the near future.

Its more complex than that. It was the Federalists vs. the Democratic Republicans until the war of 1812, when the Feds seemed to be unpatriotic and became a New England only party. After that the Democratic Republicans split into two parties.

[Symmetry]

Does anyone know how a government based on the Us Constitution could be formed and keep out the two party system which seems to be immovable?

Just use some other system for electing the president, and third parties will become more viable.

[Kitsune]

Just use some other system for electing the president, and third parties will become more viable.

I am asking about it for my Star Trek: Rebellion story and trying to figure out how to set up the Republics government. The US Government seems like a good basis for the government but trying to figure out a way it does not become a two party system or if it is imevitable.

[NapoleonGH]

bah humbug, base it on the republican roman government, 2 chief executives to prevent 1 man from becoming despotic.

[Johonebesus]

There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that necessitates or even encourages a two party system. In fact, our constitution was designed to ignore parties, or factions as Washington called them. Two parties emerged because for a long time politics was dominated by one major issue, first states rights vs. centralization, then the issue of slavery, which was closely related to the question of states rights. Britain had a similar situation, with the division between royalists and republicans, or conservatives and liberals. If your fictional state is not obsessed with one central question, then there is no reason why adopting the U.S. Constitution verbatim should necessarily give rise to a two party system. Most other republics have many parties. Ironically, their constitutions usually require that there be a majority control in the legislature. That is why some countries have to hold special elections whenever some issue gets too difficult. Such a system does encourage a two party system. In order for the government to function, there must be a majority party, or at least a willing coalition of parties. Our system, on the other hand, could function just fine with a dozen parties. Or at least having a Congress divided between several hostile factions would not cause a constitutional crisis, as it would for most republics.

[RedImperator]

America naturally gravitated to a two-party system because the Presidency is not responsible to Congress and is a very powerful office, even in the bare-bones Federal system that existed in the early days of the republic. Presidential elections are winner-takes-all propositions, and it makes the most sense for those with allied interests to form the broadest possible coalition to elect him. These coalitions formalized very early, and once Washington stepped down, the two-party system basically crystalized. It's telling that while there have been periods where the U.S. was a one-party nation (following the collapse of one of the major parties), there's never been a point where it's been a three or more party nation--even the Progressives never really had a chance, not even when they nominated the same candidate as the Democrats. The election of 1860 is the only real exception, and that was a very screwed up situation where you had the Democrats split and whoever was left who still thought the Union could be preserved by compromise forming their own party, which vanished afterwards.

As for avoiding the two-party system: weakening the Presidency or making his election a matter for Congress would probably do it. Without a major nationwide election every four years, there's less reason for broad based parties to exist. CHanging the voting system from plurality to, say, party-list voting would have a big effect, too. You're still going to see a few parties dominate national politics, though, unless the political situation is unstable for some reason (Russia in the 1990's is a good example, where every election cycle would see half a dozen new parties come out of nowhere, only to vanish in a few years).

[Durandal]

Moved to N&P.

[Stuart Mackey]

Just use some other system for electing the president, and third parties will become more viable.

I am asking about it for my Star Trek: Rebellion story and trying to figure out how to set up the Republics government. The US Government seems like a good basis for the government but trying to figure out a way it does not become a two party system or if it is imevitable.

It all depends on how you set up your voting system and your constituion.