Party Competition in the United States

Benjamin Franklin proposed not paying public servants because factions were rise out of the spoils of office. Thomas Jefferson, who would shortly start the first political party, said if I could not get to heaven but were the party, I would not go there at all. Rather burn in hell. So right from the very start, there was a religion, no parties, and a reality. We must have parties to sort out our differences now. And that is one of the long-term troubles of the American republic.