The country is currently facing unprecedented levels of gridlock and disagreement. The current political climate are very unstable right now. Both Congress and the President are often in a stalemate with each other over everything, from the economy to healthcare to Supreme Court appointments. The Republican-controlled Congress has voted to repeal Obamacare dozens of time(Obama has vetoed each attempt). They have also failed to even hold hearings on Merrick Garland, the person Obama appointed to replace Scalia after he died in March. It is currently June and there are still only 8 Supreme Court justices, which has led to them having to take fewer cases. The Senate claims that they want to let the people decide and are hence waiting until November; the issue is that there is literally no precedent for this sort of thing at all. No previous Senate has ever decided to postpone hearings until after a Presidential election; they usually hold hearings and come to a vote rather quickly.

This obstructionism is nothing new; the Republican Congress has obstructed gun control legislation and budget legislation, among other things. The government was shut down in 2013 and nearly defaulted on its debt before Obama and Boehner were able to work out a hasty compromise. The government was almost shut down again after Ted Cruz and his Tea Party allies tried to shut things down due to the controversy over Planned Parenthood. While they had legitimate concerns over the conduct of the organization, it makes no sense to shut down the government over just one issue.

The Democrats, while they are more reasonable and conciliatory, have also shown their reluctance to cooperate. There was a filibuster over guns led by Senator Chris Murphy and House Democrats had a sit-in to protest the reluctance of the GOP to do anything about gun control. They have also repeatedly said “Shame” after an LGBT rights bill failed to pass the House by only 1 vote. While they are in the minority, this indicates they are increasingly unwilling to compromise with the Republicans and are becoming more antagonistic.

This has contributed to a growing sense of dissatisfaction among Americans with the status quo. Congressional approval ratings are only 13%, and at least 75% Americans are dissatisfied with the performance of the government. They feel that their interests are not being met and that both parties don’t care about their needs and favor special interests. This is in part true; special interest groups have lobbyists and money that they use to contribute to Congressional campaigns, making congressmen more likely to side with their interests. Gridlock has also led to dissatisfaction; many Americans feel that Congress is useless and can’t get anything done. The fact that President Obama has had to rely on executive orders on immigration is indicative. Recent Congresses have been unproductive and have not gotten much done. It is clear that something is wrong with how our government is doing; but what is the issue?

The issue lies in the structure of itself. The Founding Fathers built a system based on compromise: the existence of 3 branches, checks and balances, the veto, and the bicameral legislature. The idea was to prevent one faction/party from taking over and then passing all kinds of laws to discriminate against people who didn’t support them, thus avoiding tyranny. It also ensured that reforms and changes proceeded slowly and that things remained relatively moderate. At the time, the country was dominated by the Federalist party, backed by merchants and businessmen, and the Democrat-Republicans, dominated by farmers and Westerners. Both parties were often at loggerheads over issues like tariffs and relations with Britain. But they were able to compromise and prevented the new country from collapsing or getting reconquered by Britain.

Over the following decades, new parties formed and Congress and the President often disagreed over many issues. But they were able to compromise on many occasions, which kept the country going and running in smooth operation. With the exception of the Civil War, compromise helped keep the country together and legislation flowing through. Things got done in Washington, and the majority of people were generally satisfied with Congress; if they weren’t satisfied, they voted accordingly and a new party would be swept into power. This system began to collapse in the 1980s, however, with the rise of conservative Republicans and increasing polarization. The conservative Republicans ousted more moderate Rockefeller Republicans from power and began shifting the party to the right. The party establishment has become more conservative as insurgents like Newt Gingrich mobilized the base and were swept into power and more moderate members were derided as RINOs- Republicans in Name Only. This has now reached a crisis, where the conservative, pro-business establishment dominated by people like Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan is at loggerheads with the populist, almost anarchic Tea Party, which wants to radically shrink the federal government. Both groups cling stubbornly to conservative principles and are often more concerned about staying true to these values than actually getting things done in Congress.

The country has also gotten more polarized; the Republicans and Democrats have shifted to differing ends of the ideological spectrum. While Democrats moved to the right in the 1980s and 1990s under the DLC and Bill Clinton, they have gradually shifted to the left since 2008 under Obama and accelerated with the rise of Bernie Sanders. Progressives inside the party have formed their own leftist version of the Tea Party, buoyed by Bernie’s campaign, and have begun challenging the centrist DLC, which backs Hillary, for control of the party and its platform. The recent tensions indicate that the Democratic party, like the Republicans, is gradually shifting away from the center and will be less willing to compromise with Republicans. Such a polarization could lead to even worse gridlock in the coming years and destabilize the political system even further. These would have very harsh consequences for the economy and lead to even worse outcomes and dysfunctional government. The country is clearly becoming split in two; a rural, conservative nation and a diverse, liberal, progressive nation. And this has contributed to the polarization.

There are two ways to resolve this issue. One is to combat the polarization and go back to the way things were; this is impossible. Another is to enact a parliamentary system in the country. A parliamentary system is where the legislative and executive powers are concentrated in one body, the Parliament. The Parliament is democratically elected and then the members elect a Prime Minister/Chancellor, who is responsible for running the country and enacting the laws the Parliament passes. This is the system used by Britain and most other European countries; the Prime Minister has the power that the President of the US normally has, but he is merely an extension of the Parliament itself. The election mechanism used varies; some countries use single-member, directly elected districts like Britain whereas others like Germany combine geographical districts with a nationwide party vote to allocate seats. The German system is of interest; there is a mix of electoral districts similar to House districts. But half of the seats are allocated with a nationwide popular vote; any party that gets over 5% of the vote gets seats in the Parliament. As a result of this, there are 5 major parties in Germany, albeit the two largest parties, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democratic Party, tend to dominate things. To get things done, a collection of parties form a coalition, often dominated by the largest party, and then begin enacting their policies.

Implementing a German-style parliamentary system in America would help resolve this issue of gridlock and dissatisfaction. It would reduce the absolute dominance of Democrats and Republicans and allow for third parties like the Greens and Libertarians to gain power. Many voters who don’t like either of the two major parties would have a viable choice to vote for; this would reduce overall voter dissatisfaction. It would also reduce gridlock and the problem of divided government; voters can easily replace which party/parties are in charge. The party in charge would have a clear mandate to implement its policies and an obligation to govern well in order to stay in power. Such a system would reflect the views and ideologies of the electorate much better, hence being more democratic than our current two-party system. While switching to a parliamentary system may seem unlikely, it may be the best way to help resolve the current political problems in the country.