The United States Constitution was written in 1787 to lay out the foundation for the American government. Designed to maximize both freedom and function, this government would ensure that Americans are represented in a system that works for them and protects their rights.

One of the first things that American students learn about our government is the concept of checks and balances; the three branches of government have separate responsibilities and powers to ensure that none of the other branches can take over or nullify that responsibility. What is often skipped over, however, is the concept of pluralism. Pluralism is the idea that when multiple political groups coexist under one government, it will benefit all, because only ideas that are good for all people will be agreed upon and signed into law. 

James Madison, a co-author of the Constitution and one of the major pro-ratification figures of the time, believed that pluralism was a major part of this checks and balances system. Madison wrote extensively about the danger of factions – parties – if left unchecked. However, he believed that because our government was designed to allow for many parties, they would all balance each other out. 

It wasn’t long after the Constitution was adopted, though, that the rule of a two-party system in the United States began. Federalists vs. Anti-federalists, Whigs vs. Democrats, and now Democrats vs. Republicans. The United States government was not designed to function this way.

Joe Biden, as the current president, will almost certainly be the Democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential election. Donald Trump has a significant approval rating (66%) among Republicans – more than any other Republican candidate. This means that he will most likely be Biden’s main opponent in 2024.

Biden is 80 years old and has a net worth of $10 million and a current approval rating of 44%. Trump is 77 years old and has a net worth of $2.6 billion and an approval rating 41% on average throughout his presidency. These will almost certainly be the presidential candidates for 2024. The average American is 39-42 years younger and $10 million – $2.5 billion poorer. An old, filthy rich man is not an acceptable representative of a country as diverse as the United States – and yet, they keep ending up as our leaders. Why?

 A growing number of Americans express dissatisfaction with both candidates, and according to Pew Research Center, Americans identify themselves less and less with either of the two major political parties as time goes on. Still, similar candidates for the same two parties are put forth election after election. The reason is that, as things often do, it all comes down to money.

Open Secrets reports that in 2020, about 6.5 billion dollars were spent running for election, and the vast majority of that money was split between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Joe Biden. Other parties simply are not as rich as Democrats and Republicans, they could not afford to spend a significant fraction of what their major competitors did. Therefore, voters did not have enough information about better candidates to vote for them – all of this in an election where voters were encouraged to vote for “the lesser evil” and to “settle” for the better candidate.

Even when voters do know of a third candidate that they would like to support, they are often aware that because that candidate is not well known, they have no chance of winning, and must thus choose between two candidates that they do not like or waste their vote on a candidate who will not win. 

When parties receive 5% or more of the vote – which they rarely do, because voters do not wish to “throw away” their vote – they can qualify to receive a federal grant of about $20 million to help them campaign in the next general election. The catch is that they can only use the grant money – no accepting private donations and no competing with multi-billion dollar Democrat or Republican campaigns. For all parties except our big two, elections are a vicious cycle of losing because they have no funding and having no funding because they lose.

This system was set up by and only benefits the Democratic and Republican parties – parties that only run extremely rich individuals as candidates – and as long as these parties hold power, it will remain in place. It is time for the American public to realize that neither Democrats nor Republicans are our friends. Millennials and Generation Z are both leaning left and staying there, but both major parties in the United States are conservative – Democrats moderately so and Republicans extremely so – both by definition and in comparison with the rest of the Western world. As this younger generation reaches voting age, American politics must shift to meet us. Make your voice and your vote heard.