Political Parties- Helpful or Harmful?

In our reading tonight, we learned about the creation of the first political groups, the "Federalists" and the "Republicans". These parties developed after people with similar ideas began to dominate the government. Other citizens with opposing ideas became scared that the first group of people would gain too much power in the government, and so, these people organized their own society of citizens who also rejected the popular beliefs. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson became important representer of this party, later renamed the "Republican" party. Alexander Hamilton became a leading figure of the other party, the Federalist party, as President George Washington decided to act impartial towards the two. As seen in the reading, the two political parties not only butted heads, but were also able to settle disputes by meeting each other halfway.

As we know, in American society today, political parties are still in use today. While there are many parties now, the two major political parties are Democrats and Republicans. Similar to the 1790s, the current political parties act as another system of checks and balances in the American government, because they prevent one group of politicians, or a group of ideas/beliefs, from complete domination. Sometimes, the compromises that arise from the battles between the political parties turn out to be in the best interest of the American government. Also, America has to have political parties because they exercise Americans' right to free speech. However, political parties did not help to unite the struggling new country in the late 1700s, and still they do not help to unite our people nowadays. Even George Washington warned the country against having these opposing groups in his farewell address. With so many different views on how to lead our government, how can anyone know which way is best?
So, the question that I'm asking you, do you think that George Washington was right when he said that political parties would be bad for American government? Are there examples that show that our political parties divide our government in two, maybe even creating troublesome controversies that make it hard to compromise? Do the benefits of political parties outweigh the risks? And lastly, in a perfect society or government, to what extend would political parties exist?