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Wayne Coady

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I feel it is time to get rid of political parties.

Political Party's are nothing more than vehicles used to hijack what should be the people system of governing. So maybe it is time to start electing independent candidates whom are free of the party shackles.

It is time we elect candidates who will represent the constituencies , not some gang that control a political party to use for "their" benefit. I feel that these independent canditades sign an agreement to work on behalf of the constituency and if the candidate breaks trust , then they can be recalled.

Maybe it is time the voter / taxpayer had control , not these gangs known as political party's.

Topics: Modernising Democracy
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    Ronney Kendall

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    Mar 22 2013: In the USA we have a "libertarian" party, however, due to libertarians generally being regular people, they do not have the financial backing that the Democrats or the Republicans have... I personally have never been a Democrat or Republican... They are all just one in the same, and there are no lines anymore.

    They are all corrupt. It's just so sad. And I think that our founding fathers are turning in their graves right now...
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      Wayne Coady

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      Mar 22 2013: Ronney: We have 5 political party's and we know that 4 of the five are all the same. The one party that has never had a strong presents in our Parlianment would be the Green Party. But due to the control political party's have , it would be a safe bet they too would be no different.

      Corruption within our political system runs rife and until we disembowel them...our vote will alway be exploited ...so they can justify their abuse of power. From what I understand about the libertarian party, they would be no different than the other two party's you have...all take direction from big money.
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        Ronney Kendall

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        Mar 22 2013: Well said Wayne! Great minds think alike :)

        Ronney

  • ZX Style 20+

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    Mar 19 2013: Many politicians, once inaugurated as ministers are very disappointing or enraging.
    However this is rather because they are influenced more by other interests, then that they listen to their parties.
    The political parties should have more influence on the ministers or president.

    Independent candidates without any long term ideology are easily manipulated and can do whatever they want, because it mostly is not contrary to their single person made up vision.
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      Wayne Coady

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      Mar 19 2013: Political Party's manipulate and control the candidate. We know full well that if the candidate belongs to the party and if they do not tow party line they are out. Ministers and opposition critics here in Canada get all the talking time when on the floor of the House of Commons...all the other elected members get to sit on their hand in the backbenches, you know they become cheerleaders. This holds true in Washington also.

      Political parties do hold the upper hand on Ministers / Prime Ministers and presidents. They are nothing more than handmaidens of the Party Elite / big business / big oil.
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    Feyisayo Anjorin 50+

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    Mar 18 2013: If political parties do not hijack them, some other pressure group will.
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      Wayne Coady

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      Mar 19 2013: Well political parties are in control and they have a choice...either go with good governance or big money and so far they have been going with big money.
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        Feyisayo Anjorin 50+

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        Mar 19 2013: This is the same choice an independent candidate faces; and they are most likely to choose big money too.

  • george lockwood 30+

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    Mar 17 2013: Thank you. In America the parties vary from state to state too. However, I do hope that such a radical solution is not needed, but I don't see bigger countries going out and emulating Canada's Northwest Territories. America was better too when there weren't so many people. There is plenty of reasearch on many things where bigger is not better.
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      Wayne Coady

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      Mar 19 2013: All I can say is political parties are self serving ...they serve big business one good example would be the WallSreet bailout. The Koch Brothers and people like them control and own the Parties. They win ...we lose.

      • george lockwood 30+

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        Mar 19 2013: It's not just through political parties that these groups conrol our politics and thoughts. They control the media and many other ways to frame our thoughts. Karl Rove and Frank Luntz aren't business execs or wealthy men. Those are who they work for in their consulting.
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          Wayne Coady

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          Mar 19 2013: I think if you look into Rove and Luntz both are very well associated with big money and the handmaiden for big business. Fox New (right wing money) and so goes he list. I do not know what you call wealthy ...but anyone who holds over a million or two , I would say commands the ear of any political party.

  • Eric Hazelle

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    Mar 16 2013: I empathize; I've been registered "independent" for all of my voting life. I've no use for either the Democrat or Republican parties of the U.S. In some states, it's hard for an "independent" to get on the ballot, because election laws are made by, surprise! Democrats and Republicans, who aren't about to give up turf to others. (In our recent presidential election, I voted for Paul Johnson, though he's Libertarian, not independent.) I would love, dearly love, to see a strong minded independent with good credentials to run and be elected, if nothing else to prove that it can be done. The parties have such a stranglehold on our systems, though, I doubt it could happen.
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      Wayne Coady

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      Mar 19 2013: I agree it is hard for an independent to run in this "thing" we call a democracy, when the system is controlled by parties , who in turn are owned by big money. Our only hope it to pray that the voter turnout drops well below 50+1%.... lets say 48% , then the system will have failed. Then we can strive to rebuild a true democratic system , not this "myth" we have now.

  • Daniel Harder

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    Mar 16 2013: im not to knowledgeable about politics as I should be but I know enough to agree that the 2 parties don't have the 99 percent on there mind. what would be the first step to try and make a change? the first I think would have to be change the laws on "bribeist" I mean lobbyist that would cut off there money flow. any other ideas?

  • george lockwood 30+

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    Mar 16 2013: Is there any country without political parties? I don't think there is except the Vatican.
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    Xavier Belvemont 30+

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    Mar 16 2013: I believe that political parties are somewhat inevitable.
    We can get rid for now, but people will always gain a following that will lead to a support structure/ shared ideology (for example, independents are now forming unofficial parties for this very reason).

    Whats more important is to create a variety of parties that allow for more variation, get money out of election campaigns and focus on trying to remove the two-party hold that most countries have at present.
    The two main parties clearly don't have our interests or represent anyone besides the wealthy and old white males, we need to diversify the platform so people can once again see candidates who actually want to fix the issues.

  • Charles Curt

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    Mar 15 2013: this is an old idea even George Washington warned against political parties he said it would divide the country and he was Right! yes we should get rid of the parties but i believe that isn't possible at the moment we would have to create a sect of the government that would have possible candidates go through equal and balanced questions instead of having candidates spend millions to billions just to get elected just to increase their parties size
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    Lawren Jones 10+

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    Mar 15 2013: The two-party political system is an unintended side effect of the First Past the Post voting system most of us use. A change to the Preferential voting system would solve this, as well as other problems caused by FPTP (gerrymandering in particular).

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-post_voting

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranked_voting_systems
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      Wayne Coady

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      Mar 16 2013: As long as a party is in control of our system , we will never get rid of the corruption. Political Party's are nothing more than legalized gangs. This is why many citizens are turning away from the ballot box, these days. I cannot bring myself to support a political system that is rife in corruption and uses the very system to abuse the citizens who voted for them.

      I think that the fewer people who show up at election time the faster this present corrupt system will fall. If democracy is based on the 50+1% , then what happens when the number of voter turn out falls below that threashold ? I might suggest once the turnout drops to lets say 49.9 %, the system has failed.
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    Wayne Coady

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    Mar 15 2013: Time to take back our political system.
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      phillip swallow

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      Mar 16 2013: while i understand your perspective and share some of your ideas, political parties have their uses, at least in the American system of governance. if every citizen was interested in politics and took the time to examine each candidates political stances, a system independent to parties would be viable. but as things stand, political paries allow voters to immediately identify candidates representative of their views. This is especially important when voting of multiple levels of government, like mayors, governors, senators and congressmen.
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        Wayne Coady

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        Mar 19 2013: It seems to me the only time a party candidate is representative of the public view is at election time...then once elected , the democratic process come to a grinding hault...until the next election when they once again feel the need to exploite us.
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