Watching Political Parties is like watching sausage being made.
“Nothing of a public nature at the present time is more worthy of the attention of the people as the fallacious structure and pernicious tendency of the Parties now in vogue, whose foundations are as futile as their results are nugatory to the great body of the people; neither advancing the good of the nation nor the prosperity of her citizens; but blindly ministering to the avarice, ambition, or pride of some temporary idol, who is worshiped one day and immolated the next.
A party grafted purely on Principle has never yet engrossed the ardent people of this excited country; that of 1798 approximated nearer to such a party than any other but its Principles were so soon perverted, its object so soon merged into mere personal views, and the honest people were so soon duped by unprincipled leaders that it could scarcely lay a claim to purity of feeling or soar to patriotism of purpose. Since that era, faction has rapidly generated faction of groveling views and unholy ends, so as to cause political collisions to fester into mere cancers upon the body politic, eating into their vitality, and spreading disease and death over the whole face of our institutions.
Yet have the people been enticed into their support by plausible professions of leaders and the wheedling arts of insincere demagogues, to the detriment of their best interests, the sacrifice of their time, and the loss of their character. Lured on by the cant of Party, the slang of affected patriotism, and the hollow promise of patronage, men have closed their eyes, as well as their understandings, to the deception of the game, which made use of them and their interests for the sheer and exclusive benefit of an aspiring demagogue, who, when his purpose was obtained, cast the squeezed orange from him with undissembled contempt.
Personal [Political] parties are at all times, and under all circumstances, highly dangerous, and often prove fatal to the liberties of a free people. They are founded on selfishness, and terminate in usurpation and abuses. They first lead to the obscurity of principles, and gradually produce a total obliteration of all the great [Constitutional] landmarks, which are founded on the fundamental differences of government, and engraven on the inalienable rights of man. After confounding all distinctions between right and wrong, justice and oppression, freedom and bondage, they soon tend to beget in the popular mind a total apathy or indifference to whatever relates to political affairs. What is radically erroneous or pernicious is often glossed over as right, and adopted by affection or reverence for a name. What is nefarious in principle; and even frightful in its consequences, is often welcomed, cherished, and promoted, without reflection, or inquiry, because a voice guilded with popularity has suggested it. Men of conflicting views, irreconcilable principles, and incompetent minds are huddled together in personal parties for a moment, until some shock of interest severs them wider than ever, with embittered animosity and aggravated feelings; or, if they cohere after the first collision, it is at the expense of all that is worthy of esteem and admiration in the human character. Honesty is sacrificed to expediency, Truth to self- interest, patriotism to ambition, and public virtue to private aggrandizement. Honor and right can never tolerate such heterogenous associations. The most callous and adroit knaves smile at the hypocrisy of one another. Mutual distrust, suspicion, and contempt sit upon the face of every thinking man of the ill-assorted group.
Acquiescence in the ruin of their country is purchased by a bribe, a commission, or a promise of patronage. A wise, prudent and virtuous people, therefore, in order to continue free, will never lose sight of Principle; and, as parties can never be wholly demolished in a country where government is founded on equality of rights, it well deserves its attention that Parties ought not be embraced and cherished.” – Stephen Simpson, Political Economy and the Producers of Wealth, 1831; Annals of America, Vol. 5; p.471
See Also:
The Parties versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans by Mickey Edwards
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
