Good Morning, Peter
Thank you, very much, for the link to Ian Stewart's article. It ought
to spur a re-examination of the basic assumptions on which the partisan
electoral methods most frequently advocated on this site are based. It
should, at least, inspire doubt, for, as Peter Suber of Earlham College
wrote about doubt in a 1996 essay on Classical Skepticism:
"In short, certitude cures doubt, not ignorance. And with
doubt conquered, ignorance is invincible."
On February 15th, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana announced his retirement
from the U. S. Senate, saying, "For some time, I have had a growing
conviction that Congress is not operating as it should. There is too
much partisanship and not enough progress -- too much narrow ideology
and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous
challenge, the people's business is not being done."
Over two hundred years experience with party politics informs us that,
when politics is based on partisanship, the partisans form oligarchical
power blocks that become an end in themselves and ultimately transcend
the will of the people.
Partisanship is important to the primary players: the party leaders,
financiers, candidates and elected officials. The significance
diminishes rapidly as the distance from the center of party power grows.
Most of us are on the periphery, remote from the process. As
outsiders, we have little motivation to participate.
Party politics is a potent tool for those with a thirst for power but it
does not foster government 'by the people'. Instead, it victimizes the
community by using the most basic and effective strategy of domination
--- divide and conquer. The travesty (and the tragedy) of partisan
politics is that it gives the illusion of democracy while opening the
conduit by which those who finance the parties control the government.
The key to curing the electoral dysfunction described by Stewart and
echoed so loudly by Senator Bayh is to devise an electoral method that
lets every breathing soul influence the political process to the full
extent of their desire and ability. One method is described on a site
recommended to me by Archon Fung, Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy
and Citizenship at Harvard University. You may find it worthy of
consideration and adaptation:
http://participedia.net/wiki/Practical_Democracy
Respectfully submitted,
Fred Gohlke
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