The Dichotomy of Choice

The Dichotomy of Choice

In the United States government, the two party system is the preeminent system of political discourse and action in american government and politics. In other nations there may be more than two parties. However, I have come to the understanding that there is an essence a two party system in every major democracy in the world. The reason I believe this to be the case is because of the dichotomy of choice, in that there are often only two choices presented on every major issue facing a legislative governing body: yes or no, for or against, yea or nay. You may abstain from voting, but their is no maybe vote. It either passes or it does not. Also, the two sided political spectrum classifies every major party that exists on this 2 dimensional spectrum as either to the left of center or to the right of center. Because of the Dichotomy of choice, where there are only two valid options to choose from on every major issue when it comes to a vote, there will always be a two party system. Even in countries that have more than 2 major parties, the multiple parties often form two opposing coalitions to achieve there objectives in a yes or no vote to determine whether the issue passes or it does not, and these coalitions serve to, temporarily at least for every major issue that comes to a vote, form two de facto parties. Adding a third official party may be advantageous for single issue votes, as instead of voting along hard party line stances, the votes would be driven on ideological grounds for each major issue. This would be advantageous for people who are left leaning on some issues and right leaning on others, as each issue would be passed or failed based on the prevailing ideological consensus on that issue, instead of how a particular party feels about that issue. However, my argument is that because of the dichotomy of choice and the left right spectrum there will always be two opposing sides on every single issue.