Klintron posted about the Open Source Party a couple months ago. It was created in response to the current dissatisfaction with our current political party system. Well, there are people in other countries just as disgusted with theirs as well. UK writer/blogger Anthony North suggests getting rid of political parties all together:
“British politics has been in a mess for some time. Prior to Thatcherism, the two main parties came into power and went again as if on a political see-saw. No time was allowed for proper policies to formulate, and as soon as sanity seemed to prevail, the new party took over and threw away all the previous party had done.
With Thatcherism, all that changed. A long period of stability in Parliament followed, which was itself followed by a long period of New Labour. This was the opposite of see-saw politics, but the result was equally as bad. Both parties soon settled down into a form of elective dictatorship.
One answer to the problem of British politics is proportional representation. This is a very bad idea. Central to accountability is the idea that a constituency picks the MP it wants. PR would have MPs imposed on a constituency. They would be pure party animals, and the voter immaterial.
We need a new look at British politics. We need to begin a …
CAMPAIGN FOR THE ABOLITION OF POLITICAL PARTIES
Political parties are at the core of the problem. There is nothing in the British constitution to say we need them. So maybe the answer is to discard them. We need to do this for many reasons other than an attempt to bring stability to the British Parliament.”
(via Anthony North-Beyond The Blog)
(More interesting political ideas from William Irwin Thompson’s “Catastrophist Governance and the Need for a Tricameral Legislature”)
January 13, 2008 at 3:37 am
Well, lets assume that you have a theory to be dicussed, but here the key question is who will replace the space once the political parties that you are so tired of have occupied since long.
January 13, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Anthony states in the article:
“COMMONSENSE
Of course, the political parties will not, and should not, disappear. Without political parties it would be difficult to actually run a government, so a political party would need to be voted into power. But if a sizeable proportion of MPs were independent, no political party would be able to have a monopoly on power.”
I asked him to further expand on this and got this reply:
“That said, even if independents totally swamped the political parties and they disappeared, as long as representative democracy was preserved, we should trust the political system to come to the proper answer. With democracy, if it wasn’t the proper one, I think we’d let them know. But it is almost certain that political parties, of some form, would continue. It is in the nature of politics to find allies, similar voices, etc. So the process of political parties would most likely begin again, and in fifty years or so we may need another campaign when they take over. That’s the nature of life – it moves in cycles. It’s just time we knocked this end of this cycle on the head – stunned it a little and made it retreat for a time.”
January 8, 2011 at 12:33 pm
Nonpartisan Political County Public Service- First of its kind- A publicly owned political party. It would be publicly owned because the bylaws will be voted on by the public. This would be a county service in every county in South Carolina. This would be a structured service for the average citizen to have a legitimate chance running for office without the need of large campaign donations or the door to door solicitations. For the voters you can find an individual to vote for of any ideology. You will have a lot of choices in candidates and a lot of debates. Anyone’s peaceful views are welcome and anyone can vote in this primary system following constitutional laws.
email robertandlarri@GMAIL.COM
If the public was invited to a local open primary system then the people would naturally vote for that same candidate in the general election because the public voted on the bylaws. Those bylaws require accountability and clear communication between the people who are in charge and those who we elect. Advertising is done with a worksheet every 30 days. The worksheet will show you every electable position you can vote for depending on what voting precinct you live in and what they have been up to. You get to state your opinion concerning legislation in a organized fashion.
The Primary system is the most important part of our democracy. If the political parties choose to shut it down- well…….they can if they want to- it doesn’t belong to the public. So, that is exactly what we are creating- our own structured public primary system. We don’t depend on them- they depend on us and we are sick and tired of this two party system. Read George Washington’s Farewell Address for your self. Parties are un-American.