Stifling Political Competition examines the history and array of
laws, regulations, subsidies and programs that benefit the two
major parties and discourage even the possibility of a serious
challenge to the Democrat-Republican duopoly. The analysis
synthesizes political science, economics and American history to
demonstrate how the two-party system is the artificial creation of
a network of laws, restrictions and subsidies that favor the
Democrats and Republicans and cripple potential challenges. The
American Founders, as it has been generally forgotten, distrusted
political parties. Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution are parties
mentioned, much less given legal protection or privilege. This
provocative book traces how by the end of the Civil War the
Republicans and Democrats had guaranteed their dominance and
subsequently influenced a range of policies developed to protect
the duopoly. For example, Bennett examines how the Federal Election
Campaign Act of 1971 (as amended in 1974 and 1976), which was sold
to the public as a nonpartisan act of good government reformism
actually reinforced the dominance of the two parties. While focused
primarily on the American experience, the book does consider the
prevalence of two-party systems around the world (especially in
emerging democracies) and the widespread contempt with which they
are often viewed. The concluding chapter considers the potential of
truly radical reform toward opening the field to vigorous, lively,
contentious third-party candidacies that might finally offer
alienated voters a choice, not an echo.
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