Disadvantages Of Polarization In American Politics
The problem of polarization in American politics can be solved through the reformation of the current political system, built around reaching a consensus on every issue, to one more majoritarian. And bypassing the problems created by the electoral system. With such a majoritarian system it doesn’t matter how polarized the parties are. In the current both sides must find room where they agree in order to pass legislation. In the current polarized environment there is little to no room for the democratic and republican members of congress to agree making passing laws almost impossible. In order for the minority to prevent the passage of the majority party’s agenda the minority party has to be as obtrusive as possible, using filibusters, outlandish
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Reforming congress into a majoritarian legislature and limiting the legislative rights of the minority party, have their advantages, disadvantages, and plausibility of becoming a reality. The majoritarian path would be neigh impossible to come to fruition as neither party would be able secure enough votes to implement reforms by themselves, the opposition would never agree to reforms that would limit their own influence and ability in the legislature, and even if the stars aligned and a majoritarian reform began to gain traction the minority party would take every opportunity to decry the move as undemocratic and an abuse of power. Both parties know that such an arrangement would weaken their position should they be voted out of power as would certainly happen with the minority party fighting all the way. The electoral incentive for the parties is to not reform and maintain the ability to obstruct the agenda of the opposition party when not in power. A positive of the reforms would be that it would be the quickest method both in impact and effectiveness. The members of congress faced with reelection would be held accountable to their electorate for not getting the policies they promised in the election and not have anyone to shift the
Reforming congress into a majoritarian legislature and limiting the legislative rights of the minority party, have their advantages, disadvantages, and plausibility of becoming a reality. The majoritarian path would be neigh impossible to come to fruition as neither party would be able secure enough votes to implement reforms by themselves, the opposition would never agree to reforms that would limit their own influence and ability in the legislature, and even if the stars aligned and a majoritarian reform began to gain traction the minority party would take every opportunity to decry the move as undemocratic and an abuse of power. Both parties know that such an arrangement would weaken their position should they be voted out of power as would certainly happen with the minority party fighting all the way. The electoral incentive for the parties is to not reform and maintain the ability to obstruct the agenda of the opposition party when not in power. A positive of the reforms would be that it would be the quickest method both in impact and effectiveness. The members of congress faced with reelection would be held accountable to their electorate for not getting the policies they promised in the election and not have anyone to shift the