With the Democratic and Republican primary debates kicking into full gear, America has turned its head to wondering who will lead our great nation come 2016. While we all argue over who will represent each party in the upcoming election, I believe it is time to take a step back and realize something: America’s two-party system isn’t working.

Democrats and Republicans almost unanimously control the policies that come out of Washington D.C. and therefore, these two parties run the country. These two parties are opposite in nature – in theory they could serve as a checks and balances system for America in a similar light as the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the government.

Unfortunately, there are multiple flaws within this system. The primary issue is that no matter who is elected, approximately half of the country will be disappointed with the outcome. 

It is hard to create a thriving country when almost half of its members dislike the elected president right off of the bat.

Most members of Congress have extreme views of their party’s side, as it is harder to get votes if they are independent or moderately on one side or the other. 

According to a 2014 survey, Republicans and Democrats were 68 and 66 percent certain they would vote in the upcoming election, respectively. Compare this to the 31 percent of pure independents that said they were certain to vote and the issue becomes rather clear. http://www.gallup.com/poll/179147/voters-especially-independents-lack-interest-election.aspx

Independents do not feel they are able to make a difference in elections because the candidates they support are too moderate to have a realistic chance of being elected. 

America is more polarized politically now than at any point in American history, save for the Civil War. As the next generation of voters and politicians, college students should be consciously aware of the dangers of an exclusive two-party system.

When polarization caused by the system occurs, moderate voices get lost in the scuffle. In turn, members of Congress create laws that are very one-sided, meaning they strictly follow Republican or Democratic views, which are rarely helpful for all American citizens. 

And if congressmen and women don’t back laws that are created by their party, then they face the consequences of not getting re-elected. More often than not, politicians are elected for their political party, not their individual views.

Politicians, and the majority of citizens, follow two very different thoughts on what is best for America, and these thoughts rarely overlap. A record 43 percent of Americans now identify as independent, which shows the divisive nature of the current system. http://www.gallup.com/poll/180440/new-record-political-independents.aspx.

As a result of the growing independent population, there is a movement to create a Centrist Party, a party that bands independents together in a more organized manner. The Centrist Party stands for a set of values that hopefully take the best of each party and cut off the extreme ends. These ends, unfortunately, are what tend to run the system at this point. http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/05/02/why-the-two-party-political-system-is-failing-the-united-states

Even one of our founding fathers saw the potential danger in a two-party system and warned of the possibility over two centuries ago. “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader and concerting measures in opposition to each other,” wrote John Adams, second president of the United States, in a letter he penned in 1780. https://www.thefederalistpapers.org/founders/adams/john-adams-letter-to-jonathan-jackson-october-1780

Adams’ words are as applicable now as they were in the 18th century. Americans must come together before our country becomes even more polarized.

We would be smart to heed the advice of our founding fathers and push for a reform into a more independent country that values the opinions of its individual politicians more than the party they represent.

Jason Schwartz is a senior in LAS.

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