Should We End the Two-Party System? A 'Disputed Questions' Debate

For years, but especially in recent times, many political observers have bemoaned the fact that American voters face a binary choice between the Democrats and the Republicans when it comes to party affiliation, and that the design of our political system has kept third, fourth, and fifth parties from gaining any real clout. Would we be better off if American voters had more options? Or does the current system – with all its flaws – still work just fine? Andrew Walworth is joined by a panel of experts to discuss. Panelists include Lee Drutman, senior fellow at New America and author of “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America”; Daniel DiSalvo, chair of the Political Science Department at the City College of New York and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute; and Steve Teles, professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and senior fellow at the Niskanen Center. The original essays discussed in this program can be found online at RealClearPolitics Disputed Questions.