Fred,
re: "The paragraph appears to promote political parties on the basis that partisanship is healthy."

The operative word here is 'appears'. I'm afraid I'm probably guilty of speed reading. Although I read a post through a couple of times before I reply, there is always a general feel to a post. Some things then stand out as 'apparently' contradictory or out of place according to the general feel.
There's such a lot of intricate detail in these posts that's not always easy to grasp at first glance.
Verbose? I think we all are in our efforts to properly explain our ideas. Still, we've got to rpactise somewhere.
Roy