Are they good or bad?

They are genarally good as long as there are enough of them to represent the views of all the people. But the system we have in the U.S. today, were there are only two parties, which are simply the right and left wings of the same fundamental ideology, cannot support the views of the people-they are not diverse enough politically.

A system were anyone can start a party based on new ideas and have that party recognized is a system of true democracy, anything else is not.

Well said! Not much to add to that.

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Actually there are more than two parties here in the US. I can attest to that because I left the Republican party this year and joined the Libertarian party. As for major parties there are only two, and in reality only one. Let's face it, in our republic the only difference between the two is a 'D' and an 'R'.

A system were anyone can start a party based on new ideas and have that party recognized is a system of true democracy, anything else is not.[/quote]

Too bad we don't live in a democracy. We live in a republic. A democracy allows the average jo-smo who knows nothing about government and the way things should be ran voting on policy. Our republic allows those who supposedly know about government run things.

More like thank God we don't live in a democracy. Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, and a really bad form of government. Sure, it may give the left a warm fuzzy feeling, but for government warm and fuzzy isn't a good thing.

I agree, a democracy is not the best form of government. Thank goodeness our framers knew that, and only tried to please the public by telling them they lived in a democracy. Most people are too stupid to know this (stupid is a very strong word though) maybe just ignorant.

I think stupid is about the right word.

Political parites cause much tension in american government. George Washington was very against them, and for good reasons. Our political parties do not help us solve problems anymore. They cause more problems because instead of fixing the problems they only argue about them. A political party is just an easy wasy to get votes. Americans dont pay attention to the issues b/c all they have to know is the party and all the sudden that's the canidate they choose. We need to get rid of that. People wnat to know a politicians views, but the politicans dont want us to know their views. They say someting vague that goes with their party, but no real plan of action on how to achieve it. Everyone wants things to be better, like education. Neither party can fix the problem because they spend too much time arguing about it.

Regardless of bad or good, I think they're rather inevitable. It's like having a boxing match to the death with a table full of pistols near by. The objetive is to have a boxing match to the death...but nothing is stopping you.