The modern two-party political system in the United States functions as a mechanism to maintain elite control. While Democrats and Republicans engage in intense conflict over identity politics, both parties operate within the boundaries that protect elite interests. Both parties allow for corporate control of the economy, receive financial support from the wealthy, and contribute to the upward distribution of wealth that continues regardless of which party is in power. This structural feature functions to limit the range of political debate and collaboration among different socioeconomic classes.The conflicts that dominate public attention and interest encourage the public to not threaten the status quo. The consequences of this structural design are the creation of persistent economic instability and inequality as well as continued policy failures. Wealth concentrates at the top while wages stagnate, healthcare and housing costs outpace income growth and social mobility stagnates. Regardless of which party holds office, policies that would redistribute power and resources are dismantled or diluted before reaching implementation.

Utilizing Karl Marx’s(1848) theory of class struggle, elite theory from Khan and Domhoff (2012), analysis of policy think tanks and the effects of such in policy making, this paper argues that the two-party system is a tool to create misleading intra-class conflict to maintain elite success and forces working-class voters to vote against their own interests.