Party politics is ruining our country

Party politics is ruining our country.

I have always been an opponent of the party-based political system we practice in this country. By letting political parties exercise influence and control over our elected legislators, we abdicate our roles as citizens. When we release ourselves from responsibility for the actions of our elected officials we become simple spectators and commentators. As citizens we have rights and responsibilities. We have the right to express our opinions in a community of valid media including the internet. We have the responsibility to become informed about the facts and to respond to our government’s activities. As citizens we have become lazy. We let others do our thinking and we seem to feel that the ability to quote or even paraphrase the latest sound bite or political headline demonstrates our understanding.
One-liners, sound-bites and thirty-second television ads are not informative; they are manipulative. That such tactics exist and persist is demonstration of the power the parties wield over our public opinions. Legislators should exist to inform us then listen to us and carry our desires onto the voting floor. They should not be part of any power-and-money centered organization working to influence our opinion. Many citizens have realized the influence of money on politicians and how susceptible they can be to the machinations of special interests. Political parties are, in effect, special interests disguised as social groups. No candidate has a real chance of success without allying himself with one of the two parties. Sure, there is a sprinkling of independents but they are the exceptions that prove the rule. In order to gain the support of a party a candidate must express agreement with most of the party’s philosophy and be willing to follow the party’s direction on issues. For any candidate the party alliance effectively isolates him from his constituency and the opinions and desires of the very people who elected him.
Voters have been guided by the party system for so long they see is as the law. It is not law as envisioned by the men who drafted the constitution. Party-centered activities are not described in the constitution. Cooperation between individual legislators on common issues is a good way to get important work done. This cooperation should be the choice of each individual lawmaker; not the choice of some party leadership. Inter-personal cooperation should be based on each legislator’s mandate from his constituency on specific issues, not a tacit agreement to be guided by the minority whip or some other imaginary position. When two or three people are effectively in charge of voting, these people wield a power over the legislature far beyond the intent of the constitution. They also serve as a single point of influence for special interests. It is easier to influence one person with offers of money, power, or other desirables than to spread the same resources over the entire group. This serves to subvert the legislative process.
As voters we should make every effort to support candidates who express refusal to be managed by party leadership. A candidate with the guts to stand alone against the party structure may well be the type of leader we need to take back our government. There is no reason why, as citizens, we cannot become knowledgeable on the issues and express our desires to our elected representatives. If we can do this we should then expect our representatives to respect our whishes; not the party line.

DRP