Two-party system likely necessary

Those who say the two-party system is simply obsolete are ignoring that we need a healthy government and opposition. The two-party system provides the pillars of “government“ and “opposition.“ Similarly, just as there are three branches of government that each check each other, there are two parties checking each other from positions of power or opposition. Though there can be gross abuses of this arrangement (e.g., investigating political enemies, the Jan. 6 insurrection).

While other countries have multiparty systems, America has a tradition of a two-party system. Our political culture seems uneasy with turbulence within a party (e.g., modern GOP) — could you imagine America with three, five or 10 parties? It would reach a fever pitch.

Some wonder if it is time to throw away the two-party system completely. Yet there is the institutional approach. Put another way, we should fight for the Democratic Party that delivered us Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the federal minimum wage (Trump’s recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill includes cuts to Medicare and Medicaid). The Democratic Party is the engine of democracy right now as it fights attempts by the GOP to subvert our democracy and elections to take power. In the end, do we approach the problem by turning to one party that doesn’t clearly engage in the abuse of our institutions? I wonder if what we’re asking for in exchange isn’t more democracy, but more chaos, when the Democrats offer a clear progressive agenda in a dark time.

Matthew Haile

Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Marquette, Michigan