[T]here cannot be a more certain symptom of the approaching ruin of a State than when a firm adherence to party is fixed upon as the only test of merit, and all the qualifications requisite to a right discharge of every employment, are reduced to that single standard.
Edward Wortley Montagu, Reflections on the Rise and Fall of the Ancient Republicks: Adapted to the Present State of Great Britain
faction, party-politics, politics, power, statesmanship