The donkey and the elephant, Tea Partiers, Libertarians, Green Partiers, Socialists, and Independents are all examples of the very things that the founding fathers advocated for American politics not to have. As George Washington said at his farewell address in September of 1796, just 20 years after the Revolution had swept across the country, giving the world its newest empire:

“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” (mountvernon.org)

Many Americans go to polling places around the country making minor decisions like whether or not to approve of a 23-cent tax on their gas, or a major decision like deciding their next president that will represent them for the next four years. In all these decisions people are swayed by the R, D, I, or L that is put next to their name. Pledging your allegiance to a party just allows people to place a blind bet, or in this instance a blind ballot. People would rather vote for their party just to get an open-up on their opposing party or parties rather than looking at the true issues being fought over. This election season many Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, members of the Tea Party, and members of the Green Party alike fought with their own very morals in order to vote for the next man or woman that would represent them in the following four to eight years. While some may have voted because the sincerely agreed with the viewpoints of those running in the race, others just voted because it was their party and they did not care what happened. This causes a disconnect between what Americans really want versus what their party wants them to do. Parties are the reason we see mayors, governors, senators, representatives, and presidents have been elected for one reason and one reason only, because it was the party that voted, not the person’s conscious.