Democracy is not without its problems. A government "of people", "by people", and "for people", is not 'home free' simply because it's democratic. Unfortunately, the first thing that millions of free and independent people do is divide themselves into political Parties. Political parties are usually at loggerheads. These differences can become politically vicious. Can anything be done about the Party-system of democracy. Yes and No. Of course strict compliance with Constitutional government as set out in the Constitution may help attenuate the antagonism. In other words, a Triadic government whose Branches are always in motion viz. one Executes, one Interprets, and one Legislates,( according to democratic values) may off-set some of the antagonistic elements in Party politics, but that pre-supposes that each Branch is functioning according to democratic values. By that I mean that each Branch emphasizes and implements the Freedom and Equality of the individual, which are political values of a democracy, and no Branch is being influenced in their political decisions by other value systems. What other value systems? Well, try economic values. Economic values are not values that can be 'used' in governing. Democracy is about People, people need to be governed; economics is about profits, both people and huge corporations want to make big profits. The goal of each institution is not the same. A democracy requires governing and that means Constitutional democratic values; not economic values. I think most people can 'see' that, but greed overcomes the best of intentions and some of them want to ascend to levels of power from where they can increase their booty. Enter the Party system. I don't mean that any one Party is solely motivated by economic values, but democratic values ( the motor of democracy) are being overcome by economic values( money). Its getting to where people would rather have lots of money than being free and equal. Unfortunately, all political Parties are influenced by the 'holy dollar' and the big corporation. Competition between individuals is not 'bad' per se, but who can compete against the big corporation? No one! And its the government that creates the corporate monster. The economy then divides the economy into Big business and Little business. More divisions! Why? well, it allows the little guys to feel like they are functioning in a free society, while the Big corporations assume control of government. Little business meeks-out a living while Big business acquires political punch and ascends to the top 1%. Democracy falls and Plutocracy ascends. Where are the people? They are in a state of acquiescence. They witness the battles between political parties and the corporate behemoths and the best they can hope for is that something will fall to the bottom. After all, democracy is about the People.