Mrs. McGuire
English III
26 October 2011
“Do Political Parties Help or Hurt America?” Political parties have been in America since the very inception of the country. Political parties were originally designed to give voice to a group of people's interests. But as the time has passed, the ideas being presented has been growing less about the people and more about the power and the longevity of the party and the people controlling it. The people are not voting for the candidate that they think will represent them the best but for the D or the R that appears on the side of the name. Should this be the main thing we look to when deciding the leaders of our government? The issue that people take with the concept and general structure of the modern day political parties is the reality of its inability to effectively govern with its supporters. The state must not be usurped by side interests or used as a means of dictating unpopular - or even popular - laws. In today's parliamentary and representative republics, it is the power behind the party, not necessarily the party itself that decides policy. The question is, in today's capitalistic world, will it be the people or the economic and financial advisers that hold the Party keys? Undoubtedly, it must be the people. However, here we encounter the question of how large a role any particular political party must take within the ideally reconstructed and redefined state. Let's not forget: the state is but a temporary structure devised and built by Man. It is little more than the regulatory body that encompasses the concept of the political party. As such, it stands to be reformed - or, in certain cases, overhauled - by the parties that reside within it. What the people behind the Party must do, is make sure that their needs and necessary wants be taken up by the Party itself. This is but one aspect of the political party; my concern lies in the eventual - and it would happen eventually -