- What are your thoughts on political parties?

- Republican and Democratic, 'cause it's what's always been the ones that stand out, but I think independent parties are just as important.

- I wish there could be more.

- I honestly think political parties are a terrible idea.

- You can be part of a party, but not completely agree with what happens.

- How many political parties are there in the United States?

- I'm gonna guess like 15.

- Kind of makes it a more divisive country.

- Political parties, what are they?

Why do we have them and what did they do besides text you for money?

In America, we have two main ones, Republicans and Democrats, which are often represented by two of nature's most graceful creatures.

But we haven't always had those two or parties at all.

In fact, when the Constitution was written, political parties didn't exist.

And our first president, he never belonged to one.

So how did we get from a government designed without parties to one where they're the dominant force?

And should or can we do anything about that?

In this episode, I'll break down what political parties are, how they came to be, and meet a rare member of Congress, Senator Angus King, who doesn't belong to one.

I'm Ben Sheehan, and this is "Civics Made Easy."

To clarify, a political party has three parts, staff, candidates, and voters.

But for these purposes, when I say party, I'm talking about the organization.

So a political party is a group that seeks to use the government to accomplish its goals.

These goals are often laid out in the party's platform, which you can read on its website, which a lot of us probably haven't done despite voting for that party.

To make its platform a reality, a party identifies, recruits and supports candidates for office at all levels.

A large party will often have a national organization, a smaller chapter in each state, and even smaller affiliates at the local level, like per counties.

Let's say you wanted to start a party.

Assuming it's not a party of one, because that would be sad, you'd start by filling out a statement of organization with the FEC.

On this form, you'd include the party's name, address, and treasurer.

That's the person who will be controlling its money, which we covered in our political fundraising episode.

And if you plan on spending more than a thousand dollars on your party's candidates for president or Congress, you have to submit that form.

Since presidential campaigns now raise over a billion dollars, you might wanna spend more than a grant.

Next, if you want any chance of success, you'll have to get your candidates on the ballot.

While it is possible to write in candidates that assumes your voters are good at spelling and remembering names.

So why take the risk?

As we covered in our election day episode, states and counties run our elections.

That means you'll have to meet each state's requirements in order to get on its ballot.

Sometimes that's as simple as filing a petition, or showing that your party has a certain number of registered voters, or that you won enough votes in the last election.

As of June, 2024, there are five political parties with ballot access in more than 10 states.

But now, hold on if we have all these parties, but we didn't start with any, how did we get here?

A brief history of political parties in America.

According to James Madison, father of the Constitution and our fourth president, we had factions before parties.

During the Revolutionary War, we had Patriots who supported independence and Tories, who supported England.

During the Constitution's drafting we had Federalists who supported it and anti-Federalists who didn't.

And then once the Constitution got up and running, we still had Federalists who believed in the strong central government and Democratic Republicans who thought that states should be the power centers.

And those last two factions ended up being our first political parties.

And though we've mostly had two main ones, we haven't always.

In 1820, president James Monroe, a Democratic Republican, ran for reelection, unopposed.

This was during the era of good feelings, a time when Americans all came together right after fighting off England a second time.

But like most good feelings, it was brief.

If you remember from our electoral college episode that contentious 1824 election where the winner didn't actually win the popular vote or the electoral vote, that broke the Democratic Republicans.

1/2 of the party would reemerge as the Democratic Party in 1828, and along with the wigs would form our second two-party era.

And then when the wigs fell apart in the 1850s, the anti-slavery faction joined the brand new Republican party.

And we've basically had Republicans and Democrats ever since.

Although the party's platforms have changed a lot, even if their names have stayed the same, aside from those parties in no particular order, we've also had smaller parties, like the National Republicans, the Liberal Republicans, the Nullifiers, Anti-Masonics, the Union Party, the Constitutional Union Party, Northern Democrats, Southern Democrats, Dixiecrats, Populists, Progressives, the American Party, the American Independent Party, and Libertarians.

All of these parties at some point put up a candidate who got at least one electoral vote for president.

Although a third party has not received any electoral votes since the Libertarians got won in 1972 over 1/2 a century ago.

So if we've had all these parties, how come we've only had two main ones at a time?

You might be surprised to learn that it's not because we have some formal two-party system.

Why does America have only two main parties?

Unlike many other countries, in America, parties don't win seats proportionally, meaning relative to the share of the vote they get.

Instead, 44 states use a method called First Past the Post where the candidate with the most votes wins regardless if they get a majority of the votes or a plurality.

This makes it very hard for third parties and independent candidates to win because you have to finish first to get any seats.

That means beating candidates from established longtime parties with tons of staff, voters and money, which is an uphill battle.

But while it's very hard to win outside the two main parties, it's not impossible.

While in DC we met with Senator Angus King, former governor of Maine and one of its current US senators who won both of those offices as an independent beating the Democratic and Republican nominees each time.

How hard was it to run as an independent?

- Well, at the very beginning, it was really hard.

You have no infrastructure, you have no county committees, city committees, fundraising, any of that kind of thing.

I had about 1/2 a dozen people in my living room.

The biggest problem for an independent is to convince voters it's not a wasted vote that you have a shot.

- Do you think that we should make it easier for third party candidates and independents run and win?

In what ways do you think we could best do that?

- To me, the better formulation would be an open primary where everybody can vote and take the top, say three or four finishers, and then have the general election being a runoff and have rank choice voting, so people can rank who they want.

And if your candidate doesn't make it, your second place vote will be allocated 'til somebody gets a majority.

- Senator, how has stepping away from party loyalty helped you overcome partisan politics?

- Well, it's a luxury to be honest, because I can call him as I see 'em.

I don't have to worry about a party group or a particular interest.

I listen to the people of Maine, not a party.

- If those 44 First Past the Post states wanted to make things easier for third parties and independents like Angus, or so that the winning candidate is chosen by an actual majority, they could look to the six other states.

In Alaska, California, and Washington, they have jungle primaries where every candidate runs against eac other regardless of party.

And the top two or top four move on to the general election.

Nebraska also uses a jungle primary for its state legislative elections.

Louisiana uses a similar system for its state level elections, like governor or state legislature.

If someone gets a majority of votes, they win.

But if no one gets a majority, the top two candidates go to a runoff.

Georgia has a similar system for all elections, but they also hold a primary, whereas Louisiana doesn't.

And finally, Maine and Alaska have something called ranked choice voting or instant runoff where you rank the candidates in order of preference.

If no candidate gets a majority, the last place finisher is eliminated and those voters' second choice candidate gets their vote.

This process repeats until someone gets a majority.

So why does so few states use these other systems?

Why is it all so confusing with different rules?

The truth is that most people currently in office are members of one of the two main parties.

If they made substantial changes like jungle primaries or ranked choice voting, they'd be making elections more competitive for themselves and their parties' other candidates.

As it stands, they really only have to worry about one other party.

But as a citizen, there's something you can do about it.

If you like our party system as is, you are all set.

Don't do anything.

But if you don't like it, there are ways to make third parties and independent candidates more competitive.

For example, you could try to get your state to change to a jungle primary or use rank choice voting.

You could convince your state to let citizens vote in any primary regardless of their party affiliation.

Currently, 15 states have open primaries which allow this.

Or you could push your state to switch to multi-member districts where instead of voting for one state representative or state senator, you're voting for multiple.

At least 10 states have this for state legislative elections, and this list is incomplete.

If your state lawmakers refuse to listen to you, you can sometimes take matters into your own hands.

Today, 26 states offer some form of citizen-initiated ballot measures.

That means you can write a state law or state constitutional amendment and put it on the ballot.

Each state has its own rules for how to do this, but it's a powerful way to pass reforms if your legislators refuse to act in your best interests.

But if I could leave you with one final thought, it would be this.

Having two political parties has brought some of the most consequential changes we've ever had, whether it's the Republican Party ending slavery or the Democratic Party ending Jim Crow.

Having two parties organize his dissent and can act as a gatekeeper to keep extreme ideas off the ballot.

But parties can also be very damaging, especially when members prioritize their party over the needs of the country.

George Washington himself warned us about this in his final State of the Union address.

By then, our first parties had already taken hold.

Washington said that party spirit agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one party against another, foments occasionally riot insurrection, and opens the door to foreign influence and corruption.

Maybe that's why Washington never wanted to belong to a party, or why one of our other early presidents, Thomas Jefferson, who founded the Democratic Republicans, said that, "If I could not go to heaven, but with a party, I would not go at all."

Increasingly more Americans today are moving away from parties.

According to Gallup, in 2004, 31% of Americans were independent, trailing both Democrats and Republicans.

But today, 43% are independent, which is much higher than either party, and it's been that way since 2009.

That means the future of political parties is kind of up in the air, and whether you like them or not, it shouldn't stop you from wanting to affect the government because if you don't feel like one of them reflects your values, you can either work to change one of the existing parties from within or start your own, building power locally and statewide and then federally.

Here's a link to that FEC form.

I'm Ben Sheehan, and I hope you learnt something.