The Case for Two Parties

Though as a Democrat I don't wish success to Republicans, it's true that two parties are better than one.  That's true even in the District of Columbia, as shown in this Post column.  Briefly, a Republican candidate identified a case of fraud committed by his opponent.  Though he didn't win the election, his efforts eventually sent a city councilman to prison for 3 years. As the columnist observes, Democrats in DC often tolerate corruption.  I think that's endemic in situations where the unscrupulous politician can unite a majority against an outside threat:  think of Mayor Curley in Boston in midcentury rallying the Irish against the WASPs or numerous Southern politicians in the last century rallying the whites  against the blacks or Joe McCarthy pitting true Americans against the subversive unAmericans.