The word muse. A double meaning.
In Ancient Greek mythology, a muse was anyone of nine sister goddesses. These sister goddesses were given the duty of protecting a specific art or science. It also means to ponder on, usually in silence. *pen drops in background* Thanks to Collins English Dictionary for the definitions.
With my blog I will think about the things that are relatively unimportant to most, but are important to me. I also hope to protect the art of rhetoric and civic life. *Aggahagkasdf* Shameless plug.
This is The Weekly Muse, usually not the news.
Enough of the introduction let's get serious!
My first election was quite a nasty one. I don't think anyone could possibly deny that (if you can, write a comment). That election has left me with thoughts of how to make our elections and government run more efficiently. The thought that keeps popping into my brain is a no-party system.
In the early years of our republic, particularly George Washington's first term, the United States did not have political distinctions. The first sessions of Congress were non-partisan, I know its hard to believe. I think these sessions were greatly successful. This is still the United States, isn't it? Except maybe California, I hear they might be seceding. 2018 couldn't be coming soon enough. Yes, I realize they are the largest economy in the US. Ok. Fine. I take it back. I will also concede that California is the eighth largest economy in the world. Ok, alright I wouldn't want to see California go.
Many historians and jurists do argue that the intention of our government was to be non-partisan. This argument can be formed by interpreting Federalist No. 10 written by James Madison. In the last of the Federalist papers, Madison argues for a government by constitution to protect citizens against factions. He defines factions as groups of people with common interests, economic or political interests, for example. The citizens of our fledgling country would have needed protections against these groups because they often go against the needs of the public. Factions could very well mean political parties today. For the sake of this blog, I will assume that is what it means.
If we were able to institute a no-party system of government there would be many benefits. Remember, feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong. It would make politicians more cooperative. It would decrease our nation's current divisiveness. We would no longer pit one party against the other. We wouldn't be asking for vote recounts just to raise money for purely political reasons, shout out to my lady Jill. Finally, I think it would make the public more attentive to what those running for elected office believe in. People would make forge their own opinions, not let a party create an opinion for them.
If this were such a good idea, you would think there would be more examples of countries that do this. I only found one good example, Kuwait. Really? Only Kuwait. Well, the other countries that have a non-party system are all really little or scary absolute monarchies. The United States wouldn't function as an absolute monarchy. And the reason it works in tiny countries are that they work almost like direct democracies, everyone can have their ballots "heard." Again, not the case in the US.
But Kuwait is a good example, they do have the highest valued currency in the world. That's pretty special.
There are some other examples of local and state governments that use the no party affiliation system. Louisiana uses a non-partisan primary to elect people to state and local offices. Every candidate runs against every other candidate, there is no separate Republican and Democratic primaries. Nebraska is another example of a state with a non-partisan primary for their State Legislature.
So, how would it be implemented. We would create a bill that makes it illegal for any elected office holder to have any party affiliations connected to their title. This makes it against the law to put (R)'s and (D)'s on anything. Sure people would still say "this person" is a "this." But after 50 years of this system parties will evaporate and maybe, just maybe, everyone could think for themselves. This bill would probably never be passed, political parties are looking to survive, but hey, anything can happen.
Maybe if we moved away from party politics, we would stop behaving like lemmings. Get away from the mind of the hive. And move toward everyone being the queen of their own hives. Three snaps in a circle.
**Title Courtesy of The Eagles**
Enough of the introduction let's get serious!
My first election was quite a nasty one. I don't think anyone could possibly deny that (if you can, write a comment). That election has left me with thoughts of how to make our elections and government run more efficiently. The thought that keeps popping into my brain is a no-party system.
In the early years of our republic, particularly George Washington's first term, the United States did not have political distinctions. The first sessions of Congress were non-partisan, I know its hard to believe. I think these sessions were greatly successful. This is still the United States, isn't it? Except maybe California, I hear they might be seceding. 2018 couldn't be coming soon enough. Yes, I realize they are the largest economy in the US. Ok. Fine. I take it back. I will also concede that California is the eighth largest economy in the world. Ok, alright I wouldn't want to see California go.
Many historians and jurists do argue that the intention of our government was to be non-partisan. This argument can be formed by interpreting Federalist No. 10 written by James Madison. In the last of the Federalist papers, Madison argues for a government by constitution to protect citizens against factions. He defines factions as groups of people with common interests, economic or political interests, for example. The citizens of our fledgling country would have needed protections against these groups because they often go against the needs of the public. Factions could very well mean political parties today. For the sake of this blog, I will assume that is what it means.
If we were able to institute a no-party system of government there would be many benefits. Remember, feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong. It would make politicians more cooperative. It would decrease our nation's current divisiveness. We would no longer pit one party against the other. We wouldn't be asking for vote recounts just to raise money for purely political reasons, shout out to my lady Jill. Finally, I think it would make the public more attentive to what those running for elected office believe in. People would make forge their own opinions, not let a party create an opinion for them.
If this were such a good idea, you would think there would be more examples of countries that do this. I only found one good example, Kuwait. Really? Only Kuwait. Well, the other countries that have a non-party system are all really little or scary absolute monarchies. The United States wouldn't function as an absolute monarchy. And the reason it works in tiny countries are that they work almost like direct democracies, everyone can have their ballots "heard." Again, not the case in the US.
But Kuwait is a good example, they do have the highest valued currency in the world. That's pretty special.
There are some other examples of local and state governments that use the no party affiliation system. Louisiana uses a non-partisan primary to elect people to state and local offices. Every candidate runs against every other candidate, there is no separate Republican and Democratic primaries. Nebraska is another example of a state with a non-partisan primary for their State Legislature.
So, how would it be implemented. We would create a bill that makes it illegal for any elected office holder to have any party affiliations connected to their title. This makes it against the law to put (R)'s and (D)'s on anything. Sure people would still say "this person" is a "this." But after 50 years of this system parties will evaporate and maybe, just maybe, everyone could think for themselves. This bill would probably never be passed, political parties are looking to survive, but hey, anything can happen.
Maybe if we moved away from party politics, we would stop behaving like lemmings. Get away from the mind of the hive. And move toward everyone being the queen of their own hives. Three snaps in a circle.
**Title Courtesy of The Eagles**
