Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1853-10-28
The old Parties-They ought to die.

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We hope class of men who would scarce
ly listen to a reformatory paper will not fail
to weigh well the following, from the organ
of extreme Wing conservation, the North
american Repie@.
"What has happened once may happen
again. 1t is time for the old appellations
and the old parties themselves, to die out
when the contest between them in respect to
principles and measures, has virtually ceased
and the opposition is only kept alive as a
means of political intrigue, and an avenue for
the attainment of Office. 1t is little remar-
kable that the old party lines are beginning
to fade out at the same time both in England
and this country, and great Inconvenience
are experienced in both, from the attempt to
continue the vitality of the old organisms af-
ter their natural life has departed.
ain this country, also, it would be difficult
to point out any cause of dissension between
the wings and democrats, except that one par
ty has now got all the offices and the other
party has recently forfeited them; and this
cause the body of the people who neither hold
Office nor wish for it, may be supposed to re-
gard with profound Indifference. There are,
indeed, questions enough which are tiercely
debated in Congress and the newspapers
but they are not questions in respect to which
Wings are separated from Democrats. In
relation to a Protective Tariff, National
Bank, the management of the Public Lands,
the improvement of Rivers and Harbors, State
Rights, Slavery, and all other notorious top
les of agitation and dispute, politicians array
themselves on opposite sides, without the
slightest reference to their connection with
one or the other of the two great political par
ties which, for the last twenty years, have
contended with each other for the possession
of the Presidency and all the other Offices un
der the National Government.
Though these parties had other objects
in view when they were first instituted, they
have long since lost sight of them and now
continue to exist apparently for the sole pur-
pose of obtaining monopoly of the Govern
ment patronage. We do not mean that they
are conscious of this alteration Of purpose
Most of those who quietly allow themselves
to be counted as Wings and Dmocrats though
they never do duty in that capacity except on
voting day, and not always then, have vague
apprehension, founded on the recollection of
old contest, when principles and measures
were really at stake, that the government
would be more safely placed in the hands Of
their own party than in those of their oppo-
nents. Perhaps this confidence has been a
title shaken by the course of events during
the last two or three political campaigns.-
A good deal of discomfort has existed among
"the rank and file" as to the conduct and
management of their self appointed comman-
ders, the office seekers. Those who have
nothing to do but to vote have begun to be
worried by the ncessant solicitations of their
leaders not to omit the performance Of this
very patriotic duty, in which about as much
liberty of choice is left to them as is given to
the convict who is permitted to say whether
he will be shot or hanged. In spite of all
this solicitation and drumming, in spite of
the repeated assurances that "to throw away
ones vote" by casting it for the man lie real
" prefers, is a crime lite short Of treason it
frequently happens that half Of the popula-
ton do not vote at all, and many of the others
are tempted to exclaim with honest Mercutio,
"a plague on both the houses!'
The present moment seems favorable one
therefore, for calling attention to the fact that
these party names of Wing and Democrat,
now mean nothing and point to nothing; and
they are only memorials of past conflict; the
antagonism which they indicate Is with dltfi-
Guilty maintained by the strenuous efforts of
a few. who alone have any interest in keeping
it alive and that this Fictitious hostility, this
seeming warfare, is injurious to the best inter
ests, and prejudicial to the good name of the
republic 1t is not to the purpose, to say il
these two parties are allowed TO die out, Others
will rise and take their places. Pates can
not be formed anew unless some great prin-
ciple or measure is at stake; men will not raj
" around new standard if it he not erected
for more creditable motive that the dlyls-
ion of the spoils, though their attachment to
it NAV continue long after their motto which
it bears is a meaningless phrase. If but one
Presidential election should pass without con
test. rs in 1924, this indecent scramble for
Office could not be renewed for eight year,
and might not be repeated in much longer
time. He who was elected with the concur
renee of the whole people would have no par
tizans to reward and no opponents to punish
He would be relieved from the humiliation Of
having most Of bis opponents dictated by
! by party considerations-by the necessity OF
serving the interests of faction, instead Of
consulting the welfare of the State. Legls-
lators would no longer be forced, by the i'm
perative behests of their party leaders, to vote
for measures which at heart they condemn
The people might have the satisfaction Of Sc
/ curing. once in a while, their own candidate
for office, and thus, Perchance, of electine
those who had deserved well of the RepIbli,
instead of being compelled to "choose" those
only who are pointed out to them as the mos
available candidates for party purposes"
Hops, in n. Y, viii not be more than &