Political Parties: Good or Bad?

Good. Without opposing points of view from very opposities end of a spectrum, it's hard to meet in the middle.

I believe that in theory, political parties were meant to be good. On paper, they are the fundamntals of democracy: we argue, we make a compromise, then we make a decision to benefit the greater good. But today, they are barely holding up with our government. They break us into factions of individualism and force people to vote on promised alliances rather than the best interests of the citizens. With the only 2 large parties that America really has, it makes it hard for everyones voice to be heard in order to make the right decisions for the majority. Not every single person can be happy, but as long as the majority is, then the job was done right. With these two large parties today (Democrats and Republicans), it makes these two opposing sides not want to cooperate. It no longer matters what you stand for, it only matters what party you belong to. Our nation is based on democracy, but trying to bring two rivals together only divides a nation thats meant to work together. We are given a limited number of choices when we are trying to get the laws passed that we believe we need. These parties give people a false hope of government participation. Just because one party protests in the street, doesn t mean they will achieve the change they want. So in my opinion, political parties are bad for america.

Extremely bad, George Washington was vehemently opposed to the formation of Political Party's in American government. This leads to factions of individuals who operate on a system of promises and alliances, instead of voting on the issues that are in the best interest of the citizens.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that most of what's led us to this point has been based on partisan politicians who vote along party guidelines instead of on the issues.

However, in the system that we have set up, a two party system is usually the outcome. When two party's become so self-serving and powerful, all lesser parties would rather choose sides than oppose either of the two powerhouses. Imagine it as though it were a large city, with the east side and west side being controlled by two large, powerful gangs with superior numbers. Rather than opposing either side, it would be easier for you to join forces or pay protection money than challenge them and accomplish nothing.

The existence of political parties is not in itself a bad thing. They represent groups of people with differing viewpoints and beliefs on how things should be done. They argue, compromise, and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. It's how democracy is supposed to work.

However, that system has become twisted. Instead of trying to reach a solution that is best for everyone, politics is now focused on trying to promote a single solution as the only solution, with no compromise whatsoever. These solutions are typically in the interest of only a single group of people with no concern for anyone else.

This problem is further exacerbated by money. People/groups make large contributions to campaigns and expect favors in return. Because the politician wants to continue being a politician, they know it is in their best interest to return those favors or risk losing the support of those contributors. This in turn makes the priority of politics shift in favor of those throwing the most money at it.

We end up with separate sides that have little interest in cooperating with one another, in favor of blindly pursuing agendas no matter where they lead for good or worse.

Political parties, in theory, are supposed to be a good thing, reaching the best solution for everybody. In modern practice, they are a bad thing, pushing for solutions that only benefit one group or benefit no one at all if the system is split and cannot move forward because no one is willing to cooperate with the other side.

It seems devisive to me.

I think everyone should switch their party affiliation to Independent and leave the Rep/Dems behind. The battle between Rep/Dem is destroying America. I left the Rep party 7 years ago in disgust. I had been a lifelong republican. Caught some grief from my family, but I think this is the right thing to do.

That binary does the question a disservice. I would say that the existance of political parties owes itself to something within the citizenry, and that parties have inherent strengths and weaknesses. With that said, there MUST be a better way.

It think its in the middle because we can see what we want and what we all think we should have and our point of views but bad because we are being divided and its supposed to be and nation working together and not divided if you kinda get my point .

George Washington warned against parties but to be honest it goes against human nature. People with like ideas tend to flock together and push their ideas ahead. They are a bad idea but it is hard to operate without them.

I believe that (in theory) it helps to keep "fringe" candidates from gaining power and also to give us a limited number of choices.

Just imagine going to the polls and having every race like CA's recall election. Let's see, which one of these 7 million should I vote for?

good....that's the point of a Democracy. hello! if we didn't have a political parties then we would either be a monarchy or dictorship...which is bad. Look how well it works for Cuba and most of the S. American Countries not to mention the Middle East. These countries are 3rd world...their occupant live in poverty while the select few horde all the riches for themselves.