American Presidential Elections

American Politics, often prone to the passions of democratic governance, continues to be subject to those passions in the twenty-first century. Traditionally assigning majority party status to one of the two major parties, this has provided the engine through which change has occurred over the nation’s history. Able to set the agenda of the nation’s business and carry out its program, public frustration was muted given the ability of the political system to address concerns. However, that previous practice of having a majority party is now gone. American politics now takes place within a framework of readjustment: the two major parties are evenly balanced, making it challenging to address the nation’s ills. With the system straining to address public concerns, the public’s frustration level has increased. This essay argues that while change can occur absent a majority party, the lack of a majority party prevents the change from being long-term and systemic over decades. FDR’s New Deal was a system-level change that provided American politics with a public philosophy for decades. At present, rather than realigning, the nation has readjusted.