Do you think having one political Party would be devastating?

Answer 1

Yeah! Just imagine having only Democrats in charge! (Shiver in the thought of it.)

Answer 2

Assuming you mean here in the U.S.A., then no, I don't think having one political party would be devastating.

Congress and/or the public and/or the media would find a way to identify the disparate elements within the one party. "A rose by any other name..." Life would go on.

In a nonpartisan system, no official political parties exist, or the law does not permit political parties. In nonpartisan elections, each candidate for office runs on her or his own merits. In nonpartisan legislatures, there are no typically formal party alignments within the legislature; even if there are caucuses for specific issues. Despite claiming nonpartisan voting, most members have consistent and identifiable voting patterns. Historians have frequently interpreted Federalist No. 10 to imply that the Founding Fathers of the United States intended the government to be nonpartisan. The administration of George Washington and the first few sessions of the US Congress were nonpartisan. The unicameral legislature of Nebraska is the only nonpartisan state government body in the United States. Many city and county governments are nonpartisan. Unless there are legal prohibitions against political parties, factions within nonpartisan governments generally evolve into political parties.

In single-party systems, only one political party is legally allowed to hold effective power. Although minor parties may sometimes be allowed, they are legally required to accept the leadership of the dominant party. This party may not always be, however, identical to the government, although sometimes positions within the party may in fact be more important than positions within the government.

In Dominant-party systems, opposition parties are allowed, and there may be even a deeply established democratic tradition, but other parties are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power. Sometimes, political, social and economic circumstances, and public opinion are the reason for others parties' failure. Sometimes, typically in countries with less of an established democratic tradition, it is possible the dominant party will remain in power by using patronage and sometimes by voting fraud. In the latter case, the definition between Dominant and single-party system becomes rather blurred. Examples of dominant party systems include the People's Action Party in Singapore and the African National Congress in South Africa. Also, one party dominant systems existed in Mexico with the Institutional Revolutionary Party until the 1990's, and in the southern United States with the Democratic Party from the 1880s until the 1970s.

Two-party systems are states such as the United States and Jamaica in which there are two political parties dominant to such an extent that electoral success under the banner of any other party is extremely difficult. One right wing coalition party and one left wing coalition party is the most common ideological breakdown in such a system but in two-party states political parties are traditionally catch all parties which are ideologically broad and inclusive. The relationship between the voting system used and the two-party system was described by Maurice Duverger and is known as Duverger's Law.


A poster for the European Parliament election 2004 in Italy, showing party listsMulti-party systems are systems in which there are multiple parties.

In nations such as Canada and the United Kingdom, there may be two strong parties, with a third party that is electorally successful. The party may frequently come in second place in elections and pose a threat to the other two parties, but has still never formally held government. However in times of minority governments, their support is often necessary to either support or defeat a government which means it can have considerable influence under optimal circumstances.

In some rare cases, such as in Finland, the nation may have an active three-party system, in which all three parties routinely hold top office. It is very rare for a country to have more than three parties who are all equally successful, and all have an equal chance of independently forming government.

More commonly, in cases where there are numerous parties, no one party often has a chance of gaining power, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. This has been an emerging trend in the politics of the Republic of Ireland.

Answer 3

yes! we need the debate between the opposite ends of the political spectrum to keep a balance and avoid the extremes, Fascist and Socialist governments are examples of what happens when political extremists are put in charge

Answer 4

I'd rather not answer because my answer may be recorded by the "one" political party that's in control of the government right now!

Answer 5

Yes. How can you possibly maintain the people's freedom with one party?

Answer 6

Definetly. Just look at any country that has a one-party system.

Answer 7

It seems like we do right now and it seems to be quite devastating.

Answer 8

potentially yes, eventually it would be taken over by bad people, another country or revolutionaries (if it isn't already) and that would be devastating

Answer 9

Yes.

Answer 10

Not if it was Republican!lol.