Political parties in the United States - Essay Example

People are either in favor of the Democrats or the Republicans. Recently though, new movements are arising from the grassroots which seek to distance themselves from the influence of either parties but nevertheless carry some of intrinsic liberal or conservative political standpoints of the Democratic and Republican parties respectively. This may be attributed to the fact that satisfaction with how both parties have run the past and present administrations is very low. Whether this phenomenon would lead to the rise of new political parties that would present themselves as viable alternatives to the dominant ones as well as the minor groups in existence is a possibility that remains to be seen.

One way of determining this possibility is by taking a look at the history of the establishment of the Democratic and the Republican parties. A study on their respective evolution as the country’s top political forces, which did not only shape opinions but national and international policies as well, would provide ideas on the future of American politics as well. At a glance the contradictions of the two parties may seem to have stalled the country in its efforts to advance further or to maintain its status as a world power.

However, this brief study would also prove that is the said contradictions that served as factors in the changes that the country continues to experience. A review on the US Constitution would tell that that the nation’s Founding Fathers did not wish to see the country’s political system to be partisan in any way. Such an attitude against partisan politics however may well be considered as a natural reaction to the conditions of the times. Apparently, the nation was still young and unstable.

While it had yet to strengthen itself internally, it was already facing threats from external forces. There were other countries in Europe that were interested in certain parts of its territory and there was also the danger of the British trying to regain what pride and power it lost as a result of the American independence. The Federalist Papers No. 9 and 10 pointed out that factionalism and the emergence of opposing political groups would not be advantageous to the country. In Federalist Paper No.

10, however, James Madison explicitly wrote about what he perceived as the great disadvantage of a democracy. His assertion is that “a large republic is superior to a democracy because a large republic will have more qualified people whose talent will be pooled together, and it will be more conspicuous, thus reducing the chance for corruption.” (Scaros 41) Obviously, even as there were still no political parties at the time because these were basically discouraged, the ideas that would differentiate the basic principles of the Democrats and the Republicans had begun to emerge.

In the last decade of the 1700s, the first two political parties emerged. In the study of political history, this was a period that was called the First Party System. The Federalist Part and the Democratic-Republican Party main line of contention was about the role of the national and federal government. The former strongly believed in a strong central government, emphasizing that this would result in administrative and fiscal efficiency. The latter, on the other hand considers a