To what extent can we blame political parties when our government does not function effectively?

The answer is:

Parties help facilitate electoral choice so there's a limit to which we may blame political parties when our government doesn't function effectively.

Explanation

Because of the fact that parties help mobilize voters also called 'getting out the vote', you can't really blame political parties when the government doesn't function effectively because if you don't get people to vote for them the parties would be free to chose candidates. They do this to encourage low voter turnout through direct mail, email or advertisement or also help through voter registration drives as well as coordinate volunteers to help get people to vote. The blame may be blamed on individual citizens like ourselves because a person can in fact run as an independent and if they get enough signatures on a petition they can become a candidate.

You would most likely place blame on the citizens who do not vote than on the political parties themselves when you take this into consideration.

were at first enthusiastic in support of the revolution. however, over time divisions of opinion became apparent between federalists and anti-federalists