Changes

When this does not happen, and especially when one major party abruptly loses electoral strength, a minor party might replace a major party. The present [[Republican Party]] replaced the [[Whig Party]] in the 1850s over the issue of [[slavery]], for instance.

When this does not happen, and especially when one major party abruptly loses electoral strength, a minor party might replace a major party. The present [[Republican Party]] replaced the [[Whig Party]] in the 1850s over the issue of [[slavery]], for instance.

Sometimes a two-party systems seems to have greater endurance than one might expect. Attempts to marginalize a "third-party issue" do not succeed in making people stop talking about it. This leads to charges, like that which [[George C. Wallace]] raised in the [[Presidential Election of 1968]], that {{cquote|There's not a [[dime]]'s worth of difference between the two parties.}} Wallace's American Independent Party came close to doing the second thing that can happen to a two-party system: the minor party "spoils the election" for the leading major. [[H. Ross Perot]] to this day stands accused of similarly spoiling the Presidential Election of 1992 for [[George H. W. Bush]].

Sometimes a two-party systems seems to have greater endurance than one might expect. Attempts to marginalize a "third-party issue" do not succeed in making people stop talking about it. This leads to charges, like that which [[George C. Wallace]] raised in the [[United States presidential election, 1968|1968 Presidential Election]], that {{cquote|There's not a [[dime]]'s worth of difference between the two parties.}} Wallace's American Independent Party came close to doing the second thing that can happen to a two-party system: the minor party "spoils the election" for the leading major. [[H. Ross Perot]] to this day stands accused of similarly spoiling the [[United States presidential election, 1992|1992 Presidential Election]] for [[George H. W. Bush]].

A '''two-party system''' can result in a constitutional republic where there is a strict separation of powers between the branches of national government, as in the United States.

A '''two-party system''' can result in a constitutional republic where there is a strict separation of powers between the branches of national government, as in the United States.

*[[Essay:Best New Conservative Words]]

*[[Essay:Best New Conservative Words]]

[[Category:Politics]][[Category:Civics]]

[[Category:Politics]][[Category:Government]]