• PopShark@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    A side as opposed to either side is how it should be. But don’t take my word for it, George Washington allegedly warned us of the potential perils of a two-party system on his deathbed but I’m unsure if that is common myth or actually true

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      George Washington eschewed political parties because he didn’t want to establish a precedent where his choice as first president set the standard everyone else had to conform to, and there’s a little irony in people holding him up as an example in that light more than 200 years later.

      He, and the other founders largely, disliked political parties in their entirety, not just having some specific number of them.
      They also built the system that enshrined the two party dichotomy as the only option, actively sought to ensure that the “right” people could override the will of the people if needed, and founded the parties they had previously argued against.
      They are far from infallible bastions of correctness in this matter.