Problem with political parties

[Machiavelli]

Since in order to to get into political office you must be in a party to garner support for your campaign. Now prevalently we have the republicans and democrats. Now these are actually not part of the consititution but no other parties are as large. This has led to you having to be in one of these in order to get into office and you must show loyalty to the party and it's ideals even if it undermines the countries best interest. Now we should get rid of these parties and make it more open and easy for people to get into office.

 

[mosten11]

Since in order to to get into political office you must be in a party to garner support for your campaign. Now prevalently we have the republicans and democrats. Now these are actually not part of the consititution but no other parties are as large. This has led to you having to be in one of these in order to get into office and you must show loyalty to the party and it's ideals even if it undermines the countries best interest. Now we should get rid of these parties and make it more open and easy for people to get into office.

Good luck with that one...

 

[WatertheTree]

Since in order to to get into political office you must be in a party to garner support for your campaign. Now prevalently we have the republicans and democrats. Now these are actually not part of the consititution but no other parties are as large. This has led to you having to be in one of these in order to get into office and you must show loyalty to the party and it's ideals even if it undermines the countries best interest. Now we should get rid of these parties and make it more open and easy for people to get into office.

I agree. How about returning to the constitution and the rule of law? The president should hold little power save the power of veto and the command of the troops. He is more or less a figurehead wielding influence. Congress has also power grabbed. They are in charge of far to much, and that is why they cannot get anything done. Power should be returned to the states, as it was intended.

Returning to the rule of law would make it both more open and easy to get into office.

 

[ladyliberal]

What do you mean by "get rid of these parties"? If you mean criminalizing them, this would be both bad policy and blatantly unconstitutional. If you mean holding nonpartisan elections (in the sense that party affiliation would not appear on ballots) I have no objection, but I don't think that it would have much effect. I'm not defending partisanship, but I'm wary that a cure may be worse than the disease.

It is also worth noting that American political parties are actually relatively weak. In Britain for example, members of parliament are much more responsive to their party over their constituents as compared to American members of Congress.

 

[occupied]

The name of the party means nothing, If people would simply cease giving their own party a pass for the crap they revile the other party for then we would be a step ahead. Right now, as it stands, the rich get to have two candidates on the ballot and we get the freedom to choose between them.

 

[American Horse]

Since in order to to get into political office you must be in a party to garner support for your campaign. Now prevalently we have the republicans and democrats. Now these are actually not part of the consititution but no other parties are as large. This has led to you having to be in one of these in order to get into office and you must show loyalty to the party and it's ideals even if it undermines the countries best interest. Now we should get rid of these parties and make it more open and easy for people to get into office.

For qualified candidates it's easy to seek and be elected to public office; start out seeking a low level office that makes policy - local school board is a really good one - show some skill at communicatiing in retail politics, showing sound judgement, and the first step is taken.

School board is an important office, much like accepting duty on a committee, that usually only someone who is willing to work hard will take. A smart person gets a real chance to show their stuff there, make a little splash in the community, a first impression, and get a foot in the door for higher elective office.

The parties are always looking for new and promising hopefuls to join the farm team, and parties are the only way that coalitions can readily form to promote people of like mind. That's what parties are, social formations of citizens who see more or less eye to eye on most issues that are important enough to rise to political solution. If they didn't exist they'd have to be created as the first order of business.