What is a Political Party?

I defined a political party as a group of citizens with similar ideals or wants from their government, who organize under a single group in order to gain and hold power in their government through participating in elections. I think political parties can also be used as labels for the self-identification of one’s political views. If you call yourself a Republican, your political views are most likely close to the platform of the Republican party.


Political parties create additional checks and balances in our system by creating sort of an organized opposition, so that if you are unhappy with the way the government is being run or the decisions that are being made by elected officials, you can participate in the next election held and vote for a candidate with platform more in line with your ideals. This keeps any one party from straying too far from the desires of the public, because they can be simply voted out of office in the next election.


At the time of Washington’s farewell address, the U.S. governmental system was brand new and much smaller than it is today, so I think the fear of a faction seizing power leading was much greater. Since Washington feared tyranny, he was weary of political parties, which he felt creates divisions among society and can ultimately lead to the destruction of government. However, the United States has shown to be a fairly moderate and politically centered country, probably as a result of our stable democracy since the beginning. Our two party system has shown to be well established over time, so the fear of an extreme political group coming to power is not very great in the current day U.S. Thus, Tom Delay advocates participation in government through political parties, a view very different from Washington’s.