Hawk and GfS, I don't disagree about the destructiveness of having political parties -- ESPECIALLY in a 2-party, winner-take-all system like we have in the US.

But we've had this system for centuries, and I don't think any partisanship before has ever rivaled the near-total vehemence and vilification of "the other" that we've been seeing on the part of so many Repbubicans since the Clinton administration and, even more so, continuing with John Kerry's candidacy and into Obama's administration.

I think that phenomenon has a lot to do with the increasing convergence of political and financial power and the emergence of bigger and more powerful trans-national corporations. The stakes of the game are escalating, in terms of money, power, and control.   And you don't "win" in that kind of power game by doing so much as giving your "opponents" credit where it's due, even (especially?) when they do exactly what your "side" would have done in the same situation.