The Democratic party is the labor party. We do have a conservative party and a liberal party, as well as a libertarian party. Liberal party traditionally supports Democrats and Conservative party supports Repulicans - see previous post. We also have a few folks who run independently although they few and far between.
Both of the major parties encompass many different viewpoints and constituencies. The differences between the parties at the national election level (senators, congressmen, president) are not as clear cut - to be elected candidates often move to the center - Clinton and George W are good examples of this. At the state and local level differences between parties are more clear cut.
Back to the original question - why two parties? I have a theory on this that I wrote about way way back in my college days - A two party system is very efficient. Boiling an argument down only two sides is a necessary step to coming up with a resolution. It comes down to the importance of consensus building. Having only two major parties in the American government works on this principle - and before some of you jump on and point out the faults of this system I would simply point to the history books - the rise of the US as the most influential economic power in the world has been facilitated by our system of government. It taint perfect - but somethings working right...
One question you had "where are the workers" made me feel that you were suggesting that they were not represented. This is not the case. In fact, the working class, minorities, and women are the traditional constituency of the Democratic party - Amazingly, after the whole Clinton debacle in the second term of his presidency - Gore (Clinton's VP) almost won (he had the most votes). This was due to the support of these "blue collar" groups and women voters.
The last comment I would like to make is that I believe that the average American - white, black, asian, hispanic, man, woman, whatever - is very moderate. We have our bleeding edge folks - and those are the ones who get the most press - but by and large we are a nation of that shares the same core values of hard work, hard play, and love of family and friends. Man that sounded weak - hopefully you get my point - we are united even though we can appear divided. Our nation's success - however you would like to catagorize is it - is the best evidence supporting my claims. That sounded arrogant - well I guess I couldn't resist giving the flames some fuel.
