The U.S.’s two-party system is no doubt very unique to the nation; so unique, in fact, that only about 30 other independent nations have that political structure, according to the World Population Review. Historically, benefits of this arrangement center around government stability, since the two main parties essentially overshadow any smaller party vying for power. While some, like Former President George Washington, have criticized this “alternate domination of one faction over another,” the benefits of two, well-defined parties outweigh the costs by far. As Doctor Trudy Mercadal of Universidad Rafael Landivar states, since multi-party systems lean away from the two-party structure’s “winner-takes-all” methodology, they provide pathways for additional, more radical parties, such as, for example, a socialist third party in Bolivia. If you know me, you know I don’t love socialism, but I also truly believe that in this particular era, any shift towards radicalism, including socialism, could send the country into a never-ending pendulum of extremism and demolish the stable aim of the two-party system. For this very reason, besides personal beliefs, I firmly believe that the Democratic Party should shift away from its recent socialist ventures—like universal healthcare, the Green New Deal, a guarantee of federal jobs, an asset cap, and higher taxes proposed by socialist-leaning leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and, more recently, Zohran Mamdani—and instead embrace the safe bet of moderatism.

Today, we already see a worrying shift towards both far-right and far-left ideology, and with the rise of political violence, the heightened political atmosphere shines brighter than ever—whether, for example, in championing the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk or calling for a resulting “war,” like the conservative media figure Alex Jones did on Wednesday, September 10, on the day of the killing. I, for one, have definitely heard arguments among classmates that democracy might not be the way to go and that dictatorship—a “good” one, of course—could be a path to potential prosperity. This frustration with democracy resounds in both left-leaning and right-leaning circles, and it represents an even more extremist political climate. In Europe, for example, a massive shift of young people, especially young men, to far-right parties and away from liberal democratic parties has been attributed to the desire to “challenge liberal democratic norms” and to reduced “[satisfaction] with the way democracy works,” according to the Journal of European Public Policy.

Extremism is definitely increasing, and the problem begs an unconventional solution. Too often, people externally criticize the other side instead of taking action themselves, so in an effort to both curb polarization and invest in a more stable, moderate future, I humbly beseech the Democratic Party to turn away from the socialism that has become its new toy. Quelling radicalism on both sides can stem from totally moving towards moderatism on one.

Although, as PRRI polled, support for Democrat and Republican parties has more or less stayed proportionally constant since 2013, independents, moderates, and selections of “other” have grown considerably. Nevertheless, the only party capitalizing on this low-hanging fruit seems to be the GOP, seeing as it won all seven of the major swing states that decided the 2024 election. This overwhelming flock of moderates to a red ballot should signal a huge missed opportunity to the Democratic Party that could tip the scale blue in 2028. The Party should think ahead if serious about the presidential election; a shift to moderacy doesn’t happen overnight.

For the average American, the incessant push of party leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani for comparatively radical socialist policies just doesn’t fit the bill of a country that is fundamentally based on two-party stability. Considering the rise of extremism, especially on the right, we can’t entertain a far-left predominance in the Democratic Party if we want to turn the tides in favor of a healthy nation where people on either side don’t shoot people they disagree with and where moderates enjoy political representation.