Democracy Requires Strong Political Parties

They are the entry point for a government of, for, and by the people.

Democracy in the abstract is about a contest of ideas.  In the concrete, it is about who votes and for what purpose. From the founding of the United States to the present, effective democracy i.e. government policies that support the needs and hopes of the majority of Americans has required strong political parties. 

Not part of the Constitution, opposed initially by most of the founding fathers, the political party, nevertheless, has been essential to voter mobilization.  Many students of American history and politics view it as the reason why the American people have had an effective voice in their government and why our Constitutional system of government has survived for nearly 250 years.

Political parties organize and stabilize loyalties and agendas.  They have managed conflict and facilitated radical adjustments of the role of government to deal with new threats and opportunities.  If there is an “apple pie” (in “as American as”) in our political life, it is the two party system. 

But now?  Tomorrow?  Once local orators and print media dominated political information and discussion.  Newspapers were partisan and local orators were party leaders.  They worked with and for their party’s ideas and policies. They linked the people with their government.

Today the role of both has been replaced by social media, the “sports reporting” of commercial giants (contests, campaigns and players) that seek only bottom line advertising revenues, and thus showcase distortions, larger than life, simplistically caricatured, leaders, such as the buffoonish Trump and the senile Biden. 

Hence, I would argue, we have today the toothless shuffling of a gridlocked Democrat(ic) Party and the virtually elimination of a Republican Party that stands for anything more than retaining public office through allegiance to Donald Trump.   

This is hardly a democracy to be proud of.  Fortunately, still a democracy in form and possibility. A proud heritage under passive attack from the very people who should be its strongest supporters. People like you and me, the largely safe and prosperous top half of the society.

Too many of us seem to be actually thinking, no matter what we are saying, that this is the “best” of possible worlds, i.e. the best that we can actually do, and we should be thankful we don’t live in Haiti or “you name the country.” 

We see full democratic reality as “not possible.”  At least, not without risks we refuse to accept.  We discourage voter participation (unless they are “our” voters) and allow the ultra-rich to dominate the flow of money into campaigns, bypassing party leaders and organizations.

Political parties frighten us.  They suggest radical approaches, dangerous paths, forbidden ideas.  They are OAC. They are “woke.” They are unknowns. They are “politicians.”

Two hundred and fifty years of history should have taught us that political parties are essential to our system of government.

There is no other means by which coherent and stable coalitions of voters can work together for their vision of the future of their society.