The book traces the history of political parties starting in the colonies before the Revolution. Many of the colonists who supported the Revolution, blamed the political parties in Great Britain for the need for the revolution. So there was no provision for political parties in the Constitution intentionally. But the business interests of the time were gathering strength and influence pushing for better commerce, and under the leadership of Hamilton realized a strong government with a bank was the best course of action for increasing commerce. Called the Federalists, they were not a real political party, they didn't need to be, they all had similar interests. Madison and Jefferson saw the push for stronger government, feared it, and behind the scenes organized the first political party in the United States, the Democratic Republican Party to be competitive in the Presidential Election of 1800. How ironic: the first political party in the United States arose to lessen the power of big money and its influence on the government! The one-word definition of the word "bastard" is illegitimate. As such, it would be a literal interpretation of the term to call political parties, lobbyists, and political action committees bastards. As many people consider the word improper, I will refrain from using it throughout this book, but I absolutely believe it to be true: there is no legal authorization for the political parties, or their children the lobbyists and political action committees. Bastards all. They exist only because there is no legislation making them illegal. Such legislation could happen. It wouldn't even take an amendment! Believing either political party will fix the system is remaining in old habits without thinking, a mild form of addiction. The political parties are the problem. Unfortunately, as the elimination of political parties in the United States is extremely unlikely, a course of action is needed that will have positive results and limit the power of the existing political parties. My current day job is as safety manager for an oilfield service company. One of the things I like most about working with safety is better understanding hazard recognition, then eliminating or mitigating. Obviously, if a hazard can be eliminated, that is the first choice. As the political system has become a hazard to us all, can we eliminate political parties? No. So we must mitigate! We must work to minimize the hazard so it doesn't bring about a negative result, the most negative being death. Unfortunately, the death of democracy doesn't seem that much of a stretch these days. The two-party system is a primary reason for the "dumbing down" of America. The real powers of the two-party system don't want well-informed citizens making their own decisions; they want over-simplified perspectives with catchy phrases that can be repeated easily without deep thought or even actual facts! There is a suggested reform presented in the book, but the primary objective is to raise the level of the conversation above the trench warfare two party politics has become, and discuss alternatives to free the American form of government from special interests and their big money influence. The existing 2 parties now dominate all 3 branches of the government, amazing when you consider they have no legitimate authorization to do so.