While Everyone's Gaze Is Diverted...

[Carroll]

16. why g. washington opposed political parties

In this cartoon it would appear that uncle sam represents the political parties who are in bed with the robber barons swapping legislation for campaign financing, et.al. The money being heisted is the US Treasury (in the form of favorable legislation) which has become the private funds of Congress in the capital market of barter. We are broken as a nation because the nation's wealth is no longer spent to promote the common wealth, but rather the private gain of the actual, de facto owners of OUR money.
This cartoon could easily show the Right in the alley with the Left, each lined up on opposing sides, throwing bricks at each other with u sam egging them on. What unites the parties is neither wants its constituents to figure out a way to seize ownership of the money in the Treasury for the benefit of all. Maybe it's time to occupy the Treasury.