Political parties are a necessary feature of democratic life. No other institutions in our political system have the same opportunity to either enforce democratic norms or threaten the entire democratic system. Political parties were first evident in the presidential election in 1796, when Federalist John Adams was barely victorious over Republican Thomas Jefferson.

Political parties are intentionally excluded from the Constitution. The main goal of political parties is to win elections. Political parties recruit and select candidates. Attempts to weaken political parties often backfire — either by failing outright or creating shadowy entities that are less transparent than political parties.

Political parties are sometimes considered unpopular, but still necessary “building blocks.” Scholars and empirical evidence make clear that democracy is “unthinkable” without political parties.

Despite the foregoing, today’s political parties are failing from within; and it is not pretty. As of April 26, 64% of Massachusetts voters totaled unenrolled folk. Factually, 3.1 million voters. In New Hampshire, unenrolled voters were 39.9% of the vote total, while Democrat and Republican enrolled both totaled around 30%. In Maine, as of Jan. 23, unenrolled voters were 28.8% of the total of voters, while 36.2% were enrolled as Democrats, and 29.5 % were Republicans.

This writing has not attempted to discern the nation’s “workability health” of political parties within its borders. Possibly, that conclusion may already have been reached.

Why not? Given the above doings, arguably, it seems important enough to know.

John Benoit

Manchester