# What would the US look like without political parties? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 6, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-look-like-without-political-parties/759177 "2016-07-06T00:32:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-look-like-without-political-parties/759177/1 "2016-07-06T00:32:10Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-look-like-without-political-parties/759177/2 "2016-07-06T00:58:36Z")
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.