"Combinations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion"

These words, spoken by George Washington in his Farewell Address of 1796, characterize the very nature of political parties in our government. He even warned about them, along with the dangers of not remaining neutral with other countries.

We all know how that went: NAFTA, NATO, UN, need I say more?

However, I'm not here to talk history. Rather, I want to persuade you all to look at our country today, and I mean take a really deep look, especially at the difference between law and culture. Law, as I like to think of it, is a theoretical view of a nation; how it should be functioning given perfect circumstances and no outside influence. Naturally, the practical view comes from culture, which is a more accurate representation of a country, taking in all factors such as history, media, art, and more. Given the laws of the United States, our citizens should be living in perfect harmony, without any inequality between race or gender, and everyone having an equal say in both law and interest.

Again, not anywhere close to reality. And while I could talk about a lot of different aspects of why American culture needs to change, the most important one is political parties.

An institution of our government and culture since the emergence of Federalists and Anti-Federalists in the ratification of our Constitution, political parties have characterized political activity of America for generations. Whether it be one or 4, there has always been some form of "factionry" that manifests itself in our culture and understanding of events and issues. Most prominently, the divide between liberals and conservatives.

It's always dangerous to talk politics, because you know beforehand that half of your audience is going to disagree. But I am not asking you to give up your beliefs or change them in any way. Everyone has personal beliefs, and we must respect that before entering any sort of political discussion.

I am asking you, however, to simply consider separating your personal beliefs from the welfare of this country. A country with over 300 million people, every one unique in their own way. And you could easily say "It doesn't matter", or "I'll leave it up to the politicians". But how effective are a few men and women going to be in satisfying even a majority of this many people, let alone your desires?

Therefore, I believe we need to come together as a people and educate ourselves, not on how we are different, or how we are superior to one another, but how we are the same. We need to compromise, come to a middle ground, AGREE for once so that real political change can occur. I don't think anyone would disagree with me when I say politics and proceedings is at a stalemate, and it's because of our unwillingness to compromise on personal beliefs, something that we decide to intersect into politics. We all want the same thing: American success and prosperity; however, our definitions of it have changed over time.

Instead, people now resort to their individual perceptions of success, rather than identify with the collective success of society. That's what made political parties so successful in the first place, they divided up people based on factors like, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity etc, and created this malicious system of distrust and suspicion. Let's face it: a lot of people that identify with one political party are immediately untrustworthy of the other.

But the good news is that it's not too late to change that. It's not too late to forget our petty differences and focus on the issues that matter, to identify each and every one of us not as Asian, or Caucasian, or rich, or poor, or liberal, or conservative. But as American. And as Americans, we have the most power than ever before to effect real change and propel this country into a new era of progressive reform and collective success.

So let us once again unite under a flag of freedom, come together as one nation, and have the real power over who governs us in this nation.

Because it was never about the political parties in the first place.