Module 1: Define Political Parties

This weeks question is: What are political parties. There are many different ways to define "political parties." When most people think of political parties they may think of "Democrat" or "Republican." I think a more broad definition may be any political organization that seeks to espouse political power to their benefit. Most of us like to consider we belong to a political party, I think. This week we read several different primary sources that deal with the idea of political parties and factions. The source I found most interesting was Washington's Farewell Address. The point Washington tried to make here was that political parties are dangerous. Washington says that "[political parties] agitate the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one party against the other and forments occasional riot and insurrection." This was pretty powerful for the time. Political parties were hardly even formed during this period of history, yet Washington had the most ill feelings for them. Again, in Madison's Federalist 10 and 51 he speaks of factions. I think Madison is pretty correct in saying that factions are groups of individuals with interests apart from the whole community. Even today, it seems that political parties have their "own agenda" and don't care so much for the wishes of the majority - they are only thinking about their own goals and agendas. Madison, in Federalist 10, goes on to talk about how large republics are better because there are more candidates to choose from a potentially less corruption. I do not completely agree with Madison here but I think he raises interesting points about how if we have a large republic we have more ideas and more accountability. In Delay's Farewell Address, we see something very different. Perhaps because it's a "modern" document it stuck me as "different." Most interesting to me is how DeLay discusses that because Democrats fought him and Republics, alot of things did not get done in Washington, D.C. He says, "imagine all the things we could have accomplished." I think this is key because it points out that because political parties are only after their own agenda we forget about the task at hand - to serve Americans. Political parties, like I mentioned, seem to be focused on their own agenda, not the country's agenda. Because of this there are great inefficiencies in government and politics. Finally, DeLay goes on to say that great American heroes of the past were great not because who they were (Dem., Rep.) but because of what they did. I think that Washington, D.C. has lost the mentality of doing great and is more focused on being great.