What Are Political Parties Corrupt

“I have already intimated to you the danger of parties… and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of [political parties]” (George Washington, Farewell Address). The American government is corrupt. The use of political parties is the downfall of the country. Political Parties have been present in American politics since the country was first formed. In fact, one of the two major parties in America, the Democratic Party, is the oldest party to still exist in the world. Aside from the Democratic Party, the second biggest party in America is the Republican Party. These two parties have rivaled against one another since the beginnings of America. Each was originally formed based on the arguments and beliefs of the Federalists

Using a two-party system basically divides America in half. Instead of understanding and voting for who they think is going to make the best decisions for the welfare of the country, many American citizens simply act as if their party is a sports team. They are ignorant to the issues that are going on and resolutions being proposed by each party: they simply want their party to be in power. Each party discriminates against the other, and categorizes everyone from the opposing party negatively. “Today, 92% of Republicans are to the right of the median Democrat, and 94% of Democrats are to the left of the median Republican” (people-press.org). Political polarization, or “the vast and growing gap between liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats” (www.pewresearch.org), has become insane in modern times. According to people-press.org, “In each party, the share with a highly negative view of the opposing party has more than doubled since 1994. Most of these intense partisans believe the opposing party’s policies ‘are so misguided that they threaten the nation’s well-being’” (people-press.org). It is no longer about what is right or wrong, but instead, solely about “outsmarting”, or being better than the opposing party. Overall, political parties simply divide America rather than bring it together in unity, and

Politicians are constantly arguing about issues and decisions that need to be made. It is difficult for them to agree on things because their specific political party calls for them to believe in a certain idea, rather than allowing them to individually formulate their own opinions on what is right and wrong. In fact, because of the various disagreements between the Democratic and Republican parties, bills have begun to take a very long time to be approved and passed in Congress. This happens often because in the most recent Congress, the 113th, Republicans held the majority of seats in the House of Representatives, while Democrats held the majority in the Senate. Since proposed bills have to be approved by both the House and the Senate in order for them to be passed, with one party controlling one section of Congress, and the other party controlling the other, it is nearly impossible for both portions to come to any sense of agreement. There has been a major decline in the amount of bills passed in Congress throughout the 21st century. Only about 100 bills were passed in the 112th Congress. However, with the 111th Congress, there was close to 400 bills passed, 110th, 450 bills, and so on. The amount of bills passed by Congress has, and progressively is getting smaller and smaller, because all