FREE ESSAY ON IMPORTANCE OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND DIFFERENCES IN PARTY SYSTEMS

IMPORTANCE OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND DIFFERENCES IN PARTY SYSTEMS

" Never the less state as well as national parties continue to exist and function, and
they show many signs of being stronger, more complex, and better financed than they were
a generation ago. If this is true, it must be because the parties are doing a better job
of serving the candidates." (Political Parties. 48)
The author refers to political parties as doing a better job of serving their candidates.
A political parties main focus is to obtain public office, if this is true, a party must
do everything in its power to serve its candidates. Parties provide massive financial
support to aid their candidates with numerous incurred expenses in running a campaign.
They also perform many laborious and time-consuming tasks such as: mailings,
advertisements, websites, scheduling, and registering and mobilizing voters. Parties are
beginning to become more efficient in the "business" of politics.
I agree that political parties have become stronger, more complex, and better financed.
It almost seems like the party that runs the better business during an election is the
party that wins. Parties sell their candidates to us like mutual funds, with emphasis on
track record, piece of mind, stability and the promise of growth. As much as parties
serve their candidates lets just hope that candidates turned incumbents don't blindly
serve 
their parties. 
"Why multiparty is preferable. The most powerful argument for multiparty is that it is
more natural." (Multiparty Politics in America. 59)
The author describes how a well-practiced multiparty system would be better at producing
majority rule than our present bi-hegemonic system. In a bi-hegemonic system it is not
necessary for either party to win a majority of the eligible votes, but only the majority
of the votes cast. Party leaders consider it a waste of time and money to campaign for
the habitual nonvoters (most likely the result of lack of agreement with either party
platform). More of a platform selection should encourage better competition and voter
turnout. Changes in campaign requirements would be needed to give minor parties a fairer
chance in the United States. These changes would include: the abolishment of all laws
that discourage the formation of new parties; public funding for all campaigns with
spending limited to that funding; the prohibition of private donations and soft money;
free access to the media and the forbidding of commercial advertising; and the change of
the electoral system to one of proportional representation. 
I agree that multipartyism is the best and most natural system for a true representation
of public interest. The multiparty system is the predominant system around the world. In
some cases the multiparty system can be extreme with more than 130 active parties as is
the case in Poland. Thus, it is evident that realistic regulations be made to avoid such
chaos. In the United States minor parties are denied the right to participate in
presidential debates, as was the case for Ross Perot in the 1996 elections. His campaign
was also denied the right to buy media time in the amounts and time he preferred. The
implementation of a true and fair multiparty system in the United States would be a
difficult task with the immense campaign reform, but should be done to give the American
people a real choice at the polls.