In my town, all of our municipal elections are non-partisan, and I think it works quite well. IIRC, the county commissioners are also non-partisan. I don’t care what letter Joe Smith has after his name. I care about what he would do in office.
If you think parties are a good idea, look at Congress. It’s a stupid clusterfuck. Embarrasing the other party seems to be more important than working for the good of the country.
I think partisanship is ruining the country. What would it look like without parties?
Bad comparison. As you move up the ladder, there are different political philosophies that become important on a national level. There’s no Republican or Democratic way to fix pot holes or pick up garbage in a town of 10,000. There are different views of foreign policy and economic policy. Even in big cities, with ‘non-partisan’ elections, there are differences. Everyone in office in Chicago is a Democrat, officially or unofficially, but there are Bernie Sanders types, Hillary Clinton types, and black leaders who are liberally economically but conservative socially.