On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:34:01 -0500 Fred Gohlke wrote:
COMMENTS ON AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES
...
OLIGARCHIC PARTY STRUCTURE
The political parties that control all political activity in the United
States are in no sense democratic. The American people do not elect
those who control the parties. In fact, most Americans don't even know
who they are. They are appointed by their party and serve at the
party's pleasure. We, the people the parties are supposed to represent,
have no control over who these people are, how long they serve, or the
deals they make to raise the immense amounts of money they use to keep
their party in power. They constitute a ruling elite above and beyond
the reach of the American people.
This may be true in some states. New York has laws governing parties with
ballot status (the state conducts primary elections for each such party).
Their state and county committees do have some power, and members of such
are elected for two-year terms at those primary elections.
The committees can designate candidates for the primaries, which often gets
such candidates nominated as the party candidate for the general election
via winning the primary.
Party members can also designate candidates for the primary election.
And, voters can nominate candidates for the general election via petition.
Not perfect. In Tioga County, where I live, a county chair got dictatorial
powers via enough proxies to be able to hold meetings in a telephone booth.
When that annoyed enough members, new people got elected to the committee
and the now ex-chair left.
When we allow those who control our political parties to usurp the power
of governing our nation, it is foolish to imagine that we retain the
power bestowed on us by our Constitution. It is a tragedy that so few
of us recognize (or are willing to acknowledge) that we have
relinquished our right to govern ourselves to unknown people who
proclaim themselves our agents.
...
Fred
--
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Dave Ketchum 108 Halstead Ave, Owego, NY 13827-1708 607-687-5026
Do to no one what you would not want done to you.
If you want peace, work for justice.
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