Thursday, July 26, 2007

Independant Politics

Is it just me, or does our current dual party system seem to be naturally divisive, and compromising on many people's values? Though I am probably more middle of the road than most, I have got to believe that almost everybody disagrees with at least some of their political party's agenda. Why does it have to be red or blue, liberal or conservative?

I guess in the ideal form of government, every legislator would think for themselves on every issue, and political parties would be non-essential. Unfortunately, I believe that it is through political parties that any of us can make sense of what is going on in Washington. Here is my solution, mandate more parties which have serious influence (don't ask me what I mean by mandate, I have no idea).

I think if our government had five or six or eight relatively equal parties, our government would start to work the way it is supposed to. Politicians won't have to be against gun control, just because they are pro-life, you won't have to agree with expanding social security just because you are against the war in Iraq. If there are multiple parties, bills will always have to be cross party to get anywhere. Legislators will have to work together to get anything done, and voting along party lines will probably be on the decline (not to mention not as decisive). In order to get an environmental bill passed, you would want to talk to the liberals who want to preserve the earth for their children and the conservatives who feel we are commissioned by God to protect His creation. Hopefully gun control will never come up. Back alley deals would be extremely hard to pull of when eight parties are involved.

The other big advantage would be that no individual party would have a majority in Congress. This means that nobody could push the country around because they have 51% of the legislators. It also means that your vote would be more personalized. Could you imagine a party that is pro-life, supportive of homosexuals, for gun control, against big government, pro-religion, a pro-environmentalism? Why not?

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