Effects of Political Parties Introduction Since the last Whig party left office in 1852, the American political system has been primarily a two-party system. Since then the Democrats and Republicans have been the two parties fighting for the presidency. Since then there have been many other parties, but above all these two have clashed unopposed. But how much good do these parties actually do? Would our country be run as effectively if the presence of political parties was no longer a factor? It is the authors' opinion that the American government would exist without political parties and could, in fact, be stronger. The concept of a political party seems to go against what it means to be a politician: to represent your constituents. It seems like more time, money, and effort goes into getting elected to an office than actually doing the work for the people in that office. A fairly recent example is found in the case of the proposed federal balanced budget amendment. Mark Hatfield, a Republican senator from Oregon, went against the wishes of his party and voted against the amendment. His party almost abandoned him for preferring the people to his party. Many senators are faced with the same decision every day, but instead remain true to the party's beliefs and not what they believe would be best for the people. For our government to achieve true democracy, we believe drastic changes are needed. Literature Review Since the mid-1850s, Democrats and Republicans have had control of the national government. The only place where opposition was felt was at the state and local levels. However, in the early days of our country, third and fourth party candidates played an important role in politics. Some of these parties in our history are: Democratic-Republicans, Jefferson Republicans, Whigs, and Federalists. Many other parties less known or almost known to everyone were: Socialists, Unionists, Farmers-Labor, Progressives, Communists, States Rights, American Independents, Libertarians, New Alliance, Populists, Consumers, National Economic Recovery, Right to Life, Workers League , Socialist Workers, Peace and Freedom, Prohibitionists, Working World, American Assembly, Grassroots, Independent and Third World. This immense list demonstrates that not all of American history has been bipartisan. What we know today as De… middle of paper… once served a valuable purpose and helped shape our system into what it is today. Surely, without political parties in our nation's history, our system would be very different. For this reason, political parties have done some good. However, not much good has come from them for a long time. Now, the only good that comes from parties is watching the ad campaigns of politicians tearing each other apart for one office or another. That can get a little old too. So, in conclusion, political parties have achieved their goal. They were used for what they were intended for and now, what they intended has already been achieved, thus making the parties themselves obsolete. ---Bibliography 1. Carlin, David R. Commonwealth. “Lessons from November: Fraying Ties.” December 18, 1992. 2. Ladd, Everett Carl. Where have all the voters gone?: The fracturing of America's political parties. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1978. 3. Madron, Thomas W. and Chelf, Carl P. Political Parties in the United States. Boston: Holbrook Press, Inc., 1974. 4. Wolfson, Lewis. United States today. “The revolution in US politics is almost here.” January, 1994.