ABSTRACT
The political parties can set before all but the lethargic the chance to participate in the formulation of national policy and the selection of the national leader. Thus the political party, by accommodating variety and by listening and translating, ensures the stability of representative democracy. Political parties became the political cutting edge for the rights of labor, minorities, and women, substantially giving expression to those causes before they were taken up by the government. Political parties must be suitably designed for channeling aspirations and responding to dissent, to be available for the expression of ideas, even unlikely ones, and sensitive to criticism. One or the other of the two major political parties generally serves as the “outside” voice to government. The latent danger to any society is that change will be resisted, dissent will be repressed or ignored, and voices then will become violence.
