I live in a municipal area that does not have party politics and it is an absolute shambles...23 self interested people who have neither a shared vision or a shared committment to a set of ideaks. The result is the very antithesis of democracy. We always think the grass is greener on the other side...no parties, proportional representation..it all sounds great, but much of it reduces democracy to mindless anarchy. I think the biggest threat to our freedoms are the huge numbers of citizens who choose not to inform themselves then complain that they don't understand what choices they are given.
I don't think our system is perfect but it does beat most of the alternatives. At least I think it does.