Reimagining political systems?

I was taking a look at an article on roll call entitled "Can Party Government Work in America?" written by Don Wolfensberger and he discusses an idea raised byJames MacGregor Burns. Burns' thesis is, "Our system of government wasn’t working properly because there were four, not two, political parties vying for power." The concept of this is a little strange to me. I've heard the idea floating around that the United States needs more political parties before. The reasoning behind that is more parties will be able to represent more viewpoints and stances on policy and key issues, and thus be more representative of the people of the country. Many believe that the two party system is irreparably broken. Burns asserts that "congressional parties, with their attendant special-interest groups, [are] tying the system in knots." The four parties identified by Burns are the presidential Republicans and Democrats and the congressional Republicans and Democrats. 

The majority/minority party system used in England, according to Burns, would work much better. Essentially the system is the majority party and the party leader "set and administers government policy and the minority party opposes." There is more accountability because the party leader cannot run from the congressional body and vice versa.

Should we adopt this? It sounds great on paper. A major source of contention from American citizens is the ability for Congressmen and the President, even in the same party, to have different agendas, fight amongst each other, and cause gridlock. Having the president tied tighter to the party can remove that whole area of the political game. Plus, as Wolfensberger describes, "Congress today is just as gridlocked as ever, and certainly more polarized and partisan — making cross-party compromise all but impossible. Moreover, Congress’ standing with the public is lower than at any time in the history of modern polling." 

I agree with Wolfensberger that there is definitely major problems with American politics and we need continual reform. The Westminster system, however, is not the solution, and Wolfensberger agrees. We would lose a large amount of representation as citizens. The influence and power of the parties would grow excessively. Wolfensberger neatly describes the change in the relationship between parties and citizens when he states that the American Congress "is first and foremost a representative system in which constituency concerns (both geographic and economic) take precedence with members over party platforms and policy prescriptions." 

I don't believe there is one solution. Any progress that we have made to get to this point has been slow and steady, over the course of much legislature. The direction we need to go is towards more representation and accountability, not away from it.

http://blogs.rollcall.com/beltway-insiders/can-party-government-work-america-procedural-politics/?dcz=