Many people complain about the conflict in the political system of the United States. If our government were a dictatorship, or an autocracy, we would not have this conflict. It is easy to forget that what is great about our system is that we can disagree publicly when it comes to policies, candidates, personalities, and laws. In many countries such disagreement could lead to imprisonment or worse.

It is this disagreement that most people don’t like about our governmental system but it is this disagreement that is the strength of our political system. By advocating for the policies and people we believe in, we have inputs into our system. Also, by advocating for their views, the people we disagree with can have inputs into our system. It is this exchange that allows for us to explore alternatives and come up with the best policies.

Our system works slow because of this advocacy system. Often a policy will fester in legislative bodies for decades until there is a consensus that is strong enough to pass that policy. While working through that process, the policy is modified over and over until it reflects what the people want.

When “bad” policies are passed, it is often because of there not being enough conflict. This happens more often in state or local governments than in the national government. If a state or local government is heavily dominated by one party or business, policies that benefit that party or business are passed that are not broad enough to reflect the wishes of the people. This often leads to corruption dominating the state or locality for some time. The beauty of a constitutional democracy is that there are legal remedies if these monopolies get too extreme.

We have seen a lack of conflict causing problems in a number of instances. The most obvious of those problems is the domination of the Southeastern United States by one political party or another (first Democrats and then Republicans) creating a more segregated society. Civil Rights legislation and constitutional challenges in the courts have helped with this injustice. In our history there have been states dominated by certain business interests such as mining interests, energy interests, livestock interests, timber interests, and steel interests. Constitutional principles, environmental laws and regulations, government reforms, and social movements have managed to overcome many of these imbalances.

Even though it takes time, the very conflict we complain about in our political system is what makes our democracy strong.