Pros And Cons Of Political Parties

Everyone had that one friend in middle school that caused drama every day. This is what political parties are like today. There is that one person on the right who is convincing the person in the middle to pick a side of a story, and the person on the left who is also trying to convince the person in the middle to stick with their version of the story. Everyone is biased towards each other due to what side they choose. The middle man is always lost in the argument and the actual story is changed. Neither side will work it out and just in spite of the other side, they will deny whatever the other says without giving it second thought. Political parties have become this immature and polarized. There can never be a consensus because of the extreme

divide of opinions between both the Democratic party and the Republican party.

The United States Government should ban political parties because they make compromise between the parties almost impossible, they place less focus on the country's primary issues, and they tend to divide the nation.
Some people believe that political parties provide a necessary connection between the society and politics. They believe that political parties are necessary because they are the main method of recruiting and narrowing down people for government and legislative offices. These people do not understand that political parties fail to fulfill their roles sufficiently. Political parties do not have a proper and necessary connection to the people that would enable them to be effective. The only way to combat this problem is to ban political parties altogether.
There has been a complete inability for congress to compromise in the recent years. The nation's conflicts cannot be resolved because of the stubbornness of the Democratic as well as the Republican party. Currently, the Republican party controls the House of Representatives as well as the Senate. With that being said, the president is a Democrat. Because of this, anything that miraculously does get passed through congress has a high chance of being vetoed by the president. Not being able to compromise has forced the government to shut down in some cases and has forced important compromises to not be made. "The U.S. government began to shut down for the first time in 17 years early Tuesday, after a Congress bitterly divided over President Obama’s signature health-care initiative failed to reach agreement to fund federal agencies,"(Montgomery 1). This is just one of the many instances in which congress could not cooperate enough to pass an important bill. If political parties were banned, people could voice their actual opinions and vote on what they think is right rather than what their party would agree on.
The American people are forced to label themselves on which political party represents their beliefs more. These labels make Americans narrow minded to those outside of what they consider themselves. If one were to see a Republican speaking on the news and that person considers themselves a Democrat they would be more likely to not listen or to be more critical. This overall makes the United States less open to new ideas. This can be detrimental to the nation a whole, because the people will not listen to both sides and form their own opinions, but rather they will base their opinions off of their political party that they affiliate with. Currently, each member of congress is a representative of their political 'clubs' when, in reality, they need to be representatives of their constituents. "The problem is not division but partisanship—advantage-seeking by private clubs whose central goal is to win political power. There are different ways to conduct elections and manage our government—and strengthen the democratic process,"(Edwards 1). In order to strengthen the democratic process, the congress men and women must turn away from the restrictive political parties and focus on making the country better and stronger.
In the late 1700s and early 1800s there was an early warning of the formation political parties and factions from leaders such as James Madison and George Washington.

In George Washington's farewell address, he specifically warned of "the baneful effects of the spirit of party,"(Washington 1). To Washington, political parties were a deep threat to the health of the nation for they allowed "a small but artful and enterprising minority" to "put in the place of the delegated will of the Nation, the will of a party,"(Washington 1). Even the first president of this nation warned against the dangers of forming poltical parties. The political parties divide the nation instead of unite the nation. Doing away with political parties will eliminate the chance of an unjust congress and enable a true Democracy to be formed in the United States.

With the increase of middle school drama among the nation's men and women in Congress, there must be something done in order to strengthen the country as a whole. Political parties are the main factor that contributes to the ineffectiveness of the U.S. Government. Political parties contribute to the lack of compromise that takes place in congress, they take the focus away from the main issues concerning the nation, and they divide the nation rather than unite the nation. Political parties must be banned in order to fix the nation and the issues that the country constantly

faces.