What purpose do political parties serve in the United States? Political parties play a powerful role in the American political system / Tom Murse ; The influence of political parties is weaker with millennials / Peter Levine ; Political polarization damages democracy / Jennifer Lynn McCoy ; Political parties in the US have a long and often confusing history / The Edge ; Maybe we're not so polarized after all / Clifton B. Parker -- Do political parties encourage corruption? Political parties sometimes encourage lack of voter participation / Sean McElwee ; The 2016 Democratic primary was rigged / Heather Gautney ; Bernie Sanders isn't much of a Democrat, but he doesn't have to be / Linda Qiu ; Political corruption in the Post-Civil War era led to dramatic political realignments / P. Scott Corbett, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd Pfannestiel, Paul Vickery, and Sylvie Waskiewicz ; Rollbacks of post-Watergate reforms have eroded US democracy / Charles Lewis ; Members of Congress respond to more than money--sometimes / Jan Leighley and Jennifer Oser -- Would the United States benefit from a multi-party political system? US political parties may be too democratic / Daniel DiSalvo ; A multi-party system is necessary for a true democracy / George Cheung ; US political problems are more complex than just a lack of a meaningful third party / Sarah Shair-Rosenfield ; Both of the major parties in the United States are losing voters / Lawrence Davidson ; Two-party system? Americans might be ready for eight / Domenico Montanaro ; The two-party system is baked into US politics / Lumen Learning -- Can the United States transcend party politics? Ballot initiative can transcend political polarization / Sarah Holdernov ; America's polarization has more to do with personal identity than political ideology / George Hawley ; Collective action that can make tangible improvements in people's lives improves political participation / Ethan Frey ; Non-partisan "get out the vote" (GOTV) efforts may offer the most hope in increasing voter turnout / Kelly Born ; Healing the nation's divisions will require promoting our joint interests / Sheri Berman -- For further discussion -- Organizations to contact.