Political Party Over Nation?

Are George Washington’s Concerns Becoming Our Reality?

Jun 26, 2024

Kennedy- Nixon Presidential Debate, 1960, Library of Congress

We are in 2024, an election year, a year I call “the Year of the Precipice” for our democracy. To better equip Americans to exercise their civic duty this year, we have begun a series in Democraticus examining important ways of thinking and belief systems that can have a major impact on our democracy’s future. We are now examining forces in our politics that are abnormal to democracy, but have come to seem normal to us. I call them “democracy destroyers”.

Democracy and Its Vulnerability to Corruption

There are those who describe the process American democracy has undergone over the last several years as one of historical corruption. Corruption in every sector of American life. Corruption in our politics, our media, our religious organizations, and in our businesses.[1] Corruption can undermine any form of government and democracy is no exception. While this perspective is arguable, democracy is perhaps the form of government most vulnerable to undermining from corruption as it depends on public officials and its citizens to operate from a paradigm of truth and pursuit of the common good. This compares to other forms of government such as authoritarianism which does not require this. In fact, authoritarianism finds democratic concepts such as the common good, truth, and the consent of the governed as anathema to its goals and purposes.

Democracy’s Destruction is Usually Gradual

Yet, most scholars of democracy seem to agree that democracy’s do not usually fall to violent coup d’etats or to sudden, but non-violent, regime change. Democracies disappear gradually, piece by piece, little by little, usually aided by those from within the democracy’s government. Democracy disappears so slowly that its citizens often do not notice. Democracy scholar Larry Diamond describes this erosion of democracy as a process of “slow descents” that:

“…have a way of lulling us into complacency. Things aren’t so bad, we tell ourselves, they’re just slipping a bit. But we ignore gradual decay to our peril. In Ernest Hemmingway’s The Sun Also Rises, the freewheeling, hard-drinking Mike Campbell is asked how he went bankrupt. “Two ways,” he says. “Gradually and then suddenly.” The demise of democracy is often like that too.”[2] (emphasis mine)

As our democracy erodes, our ability to recognize major change in the public square becomes impaired to the point we no longer notice it and what is gradually becoming a “former democracy becomes our “new normal”. Perhaps one of the most impactful of these major changes to our democracy that has been and is still occurring “ before our very eyes” is what has happened with our political parties.

We need to explore that, see what it has been happening to our political parties, and what it has done to our democracy. First, do we know why our political parties happened in the first place?

Our Founders Didn’t Want Them, We Got Them Anyway

They have been around almost as long as the United States of America. Some of us love them, some hate them, some merely tolerate them. Our first president George Washington did not care for them, and in fact, had severe misgivings about them. Here’s what he had to say about them in his farewell address to Congress on September 17, 1796:

“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”[3] (emphasis mine)

Two hundred and twenty-eight years later, George Washington’s words seem prescient, do they not?

Our Political Parties Emerged and Survived- But Are Different Today

And, as Michael Tomasky recounts, in his book, If We Can Keep It, while our other founders did not want political parties either, but as he goes on to say “…Yet we have them and in spite of the fact the founders didn’t want them, we’ve had them essentially from the beginning…”[4] He

Tomasky goes on to say:

“And most of the time, in fact through almost all of our history as a nation, we’ve had two dominant parties. They have fought against each other. But- and this is the crucial part, they also fought amongst themselves. That is, for most of our history, our political parties have been these giant stew pots of competing interests and factions. This was less true at the very beginning of the republic than in subsequent periods, but overall whichever parties there were, for nearly two hundred years, up until the period of the 1960s through the 1980s. That’s when the Democratic and Republic Parties started to become ideologically homogenous.”[5]

This is an important point Tomasky makes. Our political parties always had polarization but, “…a decent chunk of it was intraparty polarization…starkly different from today…”[6] We have always had polarization in our political parties, but much of it was intraparty polarization- polarization within the various factions of each party. This intraparty polarization forced the parties to have to work together across party lines due to the divisions within their own party. Today, because of what Tomasky calls the “ideological homogeneity” of the Democratic and Republic Parties, we have interparty polarization. This causes the conflict and deadlocks that has characterized our politics for at least the last ten years, if not longer. As Tomasky notes, “…This is a worse kind of polarization than the old kind (emphasis mine).”[7]

Why Did Political Parties Take Root?

Perhaps ironically, we discovered early in our nation’s history that, while our founders originally thought we did not need parties, that was hardly the case. Political parties came into being early, and we found that our system needs political parties. There was a reason for that. As Tomasky points out (citing the 1995 study of parties by political scientist John Aldrich):

“…Early legislators found that by forming enduring political parties, as opposed to building ad hoc coalitions of convenience, was the surest way to win political battles- and to some extent, elections.”[8] (emphasis mine)

Another Reason Parties Took Root

But there is another reason American political parties established themselves in our democracy. We found that having two of them is necessary to maintain a healthy democracy. Historian Heather Cox Richardson explains that two political parties in our system are:

“…vital to democracy. Opposition leaders act as watchdogs to keep leaders accountable to the people. An opposition party also stabilizes the government. It enables people who don’t agree with the leaders currently in charge to envision putting their own ideas into practice. They continue to support the government even if they disagree with its current lawmakers, know that, if they can garner enough support, they can win control of the government and enact policies they prefer…”[9] (emphasis mine)

Americans’ Views Today of Their Political Party

How we see our political parties has been the subject of many surveys and studies by scholars. Not unlike much of our political scene today, how Americans view their two major political parties is what some might describe as an interesting mass of contradictions.

First, why do Americans even affiliate or gravitate to a particular political party in the first place? According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, Americans that identify as Republicans and Democrats “…are likely to point to the harm of the other party’s policies as a major reason for affiliating with their party as they point to the good of their party’s policies.”[10] Further, Pew reported from this survey that “…Those who don’t identify as a partisan, but lean toward one of the parties, are most likely to point to the negative impacts they see coming from the other party’s agenda as a major reason for why they lean toward that party.”[11]

So, Americans often select their party based on the amount of “harm” they perceive the other party’s policies creates, not because they are necessarily enamored with the party they lean toward. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey confirms this finding that:

“…The Democratic and Republican parties are both view unfavorably by majorities of Americans. And while most adults say they feel at least somewhat well-represented by at least one of the two parties, a quarter (25%) say neither party represents the interests of people like them even somewhat well.”[12]

And because of this unfavorable view, this same 2023 Pew survey reports that:

“Reflecting dissatisfaction with the major parties, even among some loyal partisans, many Americans continue to be open to the possibility of having more political parties. Younger adults and those with loose partisan attachments are particularly likely to express a desire for more parties.”[13]

However, even with this apparent dissatisfaction with their political party, parties remain strong in their attachment to many Americans. Stanford University research found that attachment to one’s political party is stronger attachment than race, religion or ethnicity.[14] Party loyalty, in a study published in the American Political Science Review, found that “…only 3.5% of U.S. voters would cast ballots against their preferred candidates as punishment for undemocratic behavior, such as supporting gerrymandering, disenfranchisement, or press restrictions.”[15]

Where is This Taking Us?

Where does this leave us? Certainly, it is apparent that democracy is easily corrupted and signs of that corruption in the form of “democratic erosion” are manifesting in major American institutions right now, including in our political parties. Political parties have long been with us and for the reasons discussed, do not seem to “be going anywhere soon”. Further, Americans seem to be conflicted in their views about our political parties, being both attached and yet dissatisfied with them.

Yet, something major has been going on with our political parties affecting American democracy. What is it and do we understand what it is doing to our democracy? Would understanding it help us deal with it to improve American democracy? Does political party loyalty now supercede loyalty to one’s nation?

Stay tuned…

We will continue exploring topics like this that are not given near enough time and emphasis in our civic education efforts, if they are even taught at all. Democracy is so important. But it’s hard to keep, and it’s easy to lose. It’s up to us, and only us, to protect it. Support democracy, become a Democratist! Spread the word! Please share this Democraticus with others. For more information, go to www.tomthedemocratist.com

[3] George Washington’s Farewell Address - Saturday, September 17, 1796 · George Washington's Mount Vernon, www.mountvernon.org/library

[10] Why People Identify With or Lean Toward a Political Party, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/08/09/

[11] Why People Identify With or Lean Toward a Political Party, Ibid

[12] How Well the Major Parties Represent Americans, the Public’s Feelings About More Political Parties, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/09/19

[13] How Well the Major Parties Represent Americans, the Public’s Feelings About More Political Parties, Ibid

[14] “Americans’ Partisan Identities are Stronger than Race and Ethnicity, Stanford Scholar Finds”, Stanford News, August 21, 2017, https://news.standford.edu/2017/08/31

[15] “Study: Americans Prize Party Loyalty Over Democratic Principles”, by Mike Cummings, August 11, 2020, YaleNews, https://news.yale.edu/2020/08/11

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