why does america have only 2 parties?

Question

the reps and dems both accuse the other of being closed minded, but isnt it closed minded of a nation to have only 2 parties? thats a bit rigid, i mean what if you are ok with gay rights and abortion rights, but youre against raising taxes? sure, there are the libertarians, but theyre not viable. or, dare i say it, what if youre a christian socialist, like Angela Merkel of germany? or what if you have other independent ideas? the american people really arent being represented i think. both the reps and the dems should be broken up into smaller, more specific parties, so that more people can be represented. sure, not every individual can be represented, but this way would make it better.

i know there are more than 2 parties (technically), but they never win office.

lillian, that was a pretty stupid answer...learn how to read.

Answer 1

The two parties in power spend the vast majority of their time rewarding their friends and making sure they get re-elected. We have a 90% re-election rate.

1) Passing legislation that keeps third parties off ballots.
2) Passing legislation that limits expenditures actually favors incumbents because they do not need as much advertising, they are already known.
3) The media isn't going to pay attention to anyone who doesn't have money to spend on commercial time
4) The lobbyists spend money both sides already. They have no interest in funding reformers who will take away their gravy-train
5) In nearly every race people vote for the person who spends the most money.
6) The two parties have convinced us that letting in a third party will mean we always have someone elected without a majority. There are many simple remedies for this such as voting for two choices. This is just a smoke screen.

All of this keeps things very predictable in Washington. Government gets bigger every year; it is now 50% of our entire economy.

I do not believe that there is any lack of options as far as third parties, just lack of access.

I firmly believe that every person in this country except the politicians and the lobbyists would benefit from a libertarian society. Think of everything good that you have in your life and it was likely brought to you by freedom, not by force. Government is force and has proven to be extremely inefficient, ineffective and corrupt. Why would we want more government?

Answer 2

There are several parties in the US. There are two "major" parties. Sometimes independents get elected. They are a part of no party.
I don't agree with any of your ideas. We don't have a Parliamentary government, so coalitions to govern cannot be formed. With multiple parties, the winner of the election will not have a majority.
Why should we have a minority candidate represent everyone? Answer: We should not.

Answer 3

The US has many parties. Do a good search and you will come up with about 9 or 10.

Answer 4

We have hundreds of partys actually. Just the Republicans and Democrats have all the money and old established control

Answer 5

We have 2 main stream parties and several more extreme cause based parties.