The two-party system of political corruption had its start in England in 1642 when King Charles I declared war on Parliament.  In the ensuing bloody civil war, the armies of the king were defeated by the armies of Parliament under Oliver Cromwell, the king was captured, tried for treason, and beheaded.   Parliament abolished the office of king, declaring England to be a free nation from that time forth, and Oliver Cromwell served as head of state until his death with the title of Lord Protector.
          Parliament had made no provision for Cromwell's replacement when he died.  As the government fell into greater confusion with each unsuccessful attempt to nominate a new head of state, a faction gained a majority in Parliament which was in favor of re-instating the office of king.  A delegation was sent to France to ask Charles, the son of Charles I, if he would return to England and become king.  Charles graciously consented.
          Charles II was one of the worst kings in English history, but he performed two acts as king that affect government to this day.  First, he ordered the executions and drawing and quarterings of the judges who had condemned his father to death, and second, he established two-party government in England.  Charles was a weak king, constantly searching for ways to weaken the control that parliament had over him.  His attention was drawn to two disruptive factions in Parliament which called each other by the derisive names of Whigs and Tories.  Whigs was short for Whigamores, a rebellious band of Scottish separatists, and Tories were a notorious band of Irish highwaymen.  Charles II decided that an effective way to divide and weaken Parliament would be to appoint all of the ministers of his cabinet from the faction that held a majority in Parliament.  This tactic was so effective that it was later written into English law during the reign of Queen Anne and is the reason why the English government dissolves today when there is a no confidence vote in Parliament.
         This brought the Whigs into power in English government, which caused them to become so corrupt that they lost their majority in Parliament.  The Tories were then elevated into power amid promises of reform and honest government, and the Whgs faded into political oblivion.  In a pattern which has reqeated itself many times in two party government, a new party arose in Parliament to oppose the Tories called the Labor Party, and by 1776 the Tory and Labor Parties had raised taxes so high that the American colonies revolted.
          Political parties were not popular in the new American nation because Americans blamed political parties in England for starting the Revolutionary War.   Founders of the American government announced their intention to form a "partyless" government, but in the end, all they could agree on was to avoid mention of political parties in the Constitution.
             This unpopularity of political parties with the people resulted in a government strong enough to withstand to a certain extent the later attempts of political parties to Europeanize it.  In 1792 President George Washington was still warning the people of the "baneful effects" of political parties and saying that it was the duty of all Americans to discourage them.  His successor, John Adams, made similar statements.  Both of these Presidents are seen by historians of today as Federalists because they did not support the Republican-Democrat Party started by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison when it took over the government.  The Federalists were actually followers of Alexander Hamilton and were so overcome by the Republican-Democrats in the election of 1800 that they had to later resurrect themselves as the Whig Party.
           This contention between Jefferson and Hamilton sent the nation back into the party politics that had dominated the colonial assemblies before the Revolutionary War.    Like England's brief time without a king, America's time without political parties was over.  Political parties moved at state level to pass legislation that gave their candidates an almost exclusive ability to run for public office.
             However, the United States was different from the beginning from European two-party government because there was a huge block of voters not registered in any party, still registered to vote the way all Americans originally registered to vote.  To some extent party contentions in the United States were diminished by independent voters because party politicians were trying to appear reasonable to this block of voters who could get them elected if they appeared to have other interests besides party contentions.  This block of voters from the beginning was courted by party politicians.  In the 1830's Martin Van Buren made a speaking tour for the purpose of convincing Americans that political parties were necessary in American government.  Political parties are just as necessary today as they were in the time of Martin Van Buren.  They are not necessary at all. 
            We can get some idea from an extreme example of two-party corruption what can happen when one political party overcomes another.  In Germany during the time after World War I, the German government was dominated by two political parties which became much larger than all others and competed for control of the government, the Nazi Party and the Communist Party.  The Nazi Party won out in this competition, and the members of the Communist Party ended up being soldiers in the German army.
          George Washington's idea of discouraging political parties has never seemed more appropriate than at the present time. 
Robert B. Winn

        In April of 2005 Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano signed into law a Senate bill that had the following effect on independent voter registration in Arizona.

         2000-2002                   107,715
         2002-2004                    165,483
         2004-2006                      26,483

         The legislation created a new voter registration form for Arizona on which the option to register independent was removed leaving only a space designated Specify Party Preference.   A party spokesman now on the state committee of his party boasted that the problem of Arizona citizens registering as independent voters in large numbers had been remedied by a new voter registration form. 
          The political parties have made a grave error by launching an attack against independent voters, not only in Arizona, but in other states as well.   They would have done better to do what they did from 1800 until recent years, ignore independent voters completely except for passing election laws at state level designed to prevent independent voters from being candidates for office.  Their attack on the ability of Americans to register as independent voters was an attack on the Constitution itself. 
           Originally, all voters in the United States were independent voters.  There were no organized political parties in the United States when the government was started.  In 1792 President George Washington warned against the formation of political parties in elective government, saying that their effect would be to destroy freedom and that it was the duty of all Americans to discourage political parties. 
            Political parties are self-created societies that seek special standing and special privileges in government the same way European royalty have special status in European governments.  It is time we heeded the advice of President Washington and started to discourage them here.