Beyond Two Parties: Why America Needs a Multiparty System and How We Can Have It

ISBN: 1734255706

Author: Eckam, Dan

Condition: New

Everything you would ever need to know if you were trying to persuade someone that a multi-party system is better for the U.S. - Ballot Access NewsIn this book, Dan Eckam explains how the USA can move beyond our current two-party duopoly - without the need to amend the Constitution.The key lies in electoral reforms such as ranked-choice voting, which he explains in detail, including its and other voting methods' use in democracies around the world.The author tackles head-on the many defenses of the current system, taking stock of the costs the American people pay in terms of political dysfunction - costs that are rarely examined in connection to the structure of the system.Relying on well-establised principles of political science and democratic theory, and presenting numerous charts, tables, and diagrams, Eckam argues that a competitive, healthy, multi-party system would better perform the representative functions that a party system should, while also improving governance.John Adams wrote in 1776 that in order to do strict justice, a representative assembly should be an exact portrait of the people at large. Equal interest among the people, he wrote, should have equal interest in it.At its best, a party system can be the means to ensure such justice, by accurately representing the diverse interests of the people. But our system needs more variety. Two parties can never be enough to represent the diversity of the American people. The Founders never intended the two-party duopoly, and would be appalled by it if they were alive today.Beyond Two Parties makes a strong case for both how and why we can bring about the changes needed to have a multi-party system.