The most important feature of the TDG is there are no political parties.
You see, political parties are the disease that is holding back humanity’s true potential. If we keep these political institutions as a necessary feature of democracy, we are more likely to regress than to keep our status quo.
Unfortunately, the political scientists are all for political parties. If we follow this branch of academia, we will not find the solution we are looking for. And that is for another article.
Reasons for No Parties
To get their positions in governance, our elected politicians ride on the election machine provided by the party. That’s why even Donald Trump chose to take over the viable Republican Party rather than be an independent candidate or start a new party. He needed a proven machine to reach his political goal.
So our politicians have an allegiance to the party that gave them their political job. This allegiance is stronger than to the nation, stronger than to the citizenry, and stronger than to the citizens who voted for the party. Have you ever noticed that when a politician is accused of corruption, the party usually comes around to protect that politician? The party knows most storms can be ridden out. So the allegiance is part of the deal between the politician and the party. Political parties will put up with crap if the politician has proven to win elections. A lot of crap.
So any decision within the realm of governance is “clouded” by this special relationship between the party and its elected representative. Every decision a politician makes is tainted by the allegiance to the party. The politicians are just as concerned about the retention and enhancement of their influence, advancement within the party, and re-election as they are about the outcomes of solutions to the issue. This grey cloud limits society’s potential for solving problems.
Think about a football coach who is coaching a big game and his mind is on his post-season ski trip.
Don’t believe me! So ask yourself this: How much time do your politicians put into studying the issues, talking to experts and stakeholders? How much time do they spend drafting and studying the bills that could turn into legislation? Compare that to how much time do they spend enhancing their influence within their political party. How often do they sacrifice principle to remain politically viable?
Why do parties form?
Factions were normal in our feudalistic times. The royal courts and aristocracy were rife with factions vying for influence. Wealth and opportunity often meant picking the right faction at the right time. Political parties are only modern-day factions.
Did you know that most of the founding fathers of the United States opposed the formation of political parties? They saw the flaws of British democracy — and wanted no part of it. The fathers envisioned a system that elected representatives would vote either their conscience or the will of their constituents.
Well factions started forming in George Washington’s tenure. Factions turned into official parties. And by 1820, the parties were running the USA. Independents stood little chance of being elected.
My hypothesis is that political parties allow second-rate politicians, in their quest for power, to unite and defeat independent first-rate politicians. In other words, political parties are about removing much of the competition for acquiring power.
Training for a No Party World
In Canada, most of our municipal systems of government are without political parties. Some municipal councillors are making alliances on certain issues, then making different alliances on other issues. Some councillors remain independent from any alliances, just vote after they have heard all sides. The councillors have no back-room people telling them how to vote. The bigger cities in Canada have big budgets and many social issues to resolves. Things seem to work no worse than being governed by provincial or federal parties. To say that political parties are necessary to making decisions in democracy is just plain wrong.
As I mentioned earlier, political parties allow ambitious people to unite to gain political power. Breaking that culture will be difficult. And that is why we cannot influence today’s politicians to build a democratic system without political parties. Our current politicians are already too busy and too vested in this system. The TDG will have to be built outside the current system.
Being on the outside means the early TDG builders will not be subjected to the toxic nature inherent in partisan politics. The builders will be in a better position to enhance their skills for collaborative TDG governance.
As we are building, we will learn how to govern and make decisions — without political parties.
Published on Medium 2024
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