I am very concerned about the state of "democracy".

It appears to me that democracy is not democratic at all.

The following quote is extract from the online Encarta encyclopedia.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_...States.html#s2

The framers of the United States Constitution made no provision in the governmental structure for the functioning of political parties because they believed that parties were a source of corruption and an impediment to the freedom of people to judge issues on their merits. James Madison argued in his The Federalist “No. 10” paper against a system in which “factions” (his word for parties) might be able to seize control of the government (see Federalist, The). George Washington, in accordance with the thinking of his fellow Founding Fathers, included in his Cabinet men of diverse political philosophies and policies, rather than narrow his choices to those of a single political outlook.

My concern is that James Madison was absolutely correct and factions have ceased control of the US, Canadian, British, and other govenments where parties are in power.

There are a number of characteristics of democratic governments that allow the principals of democratic government to be undermined.

1) Politicians are dependent on campaign contributions.

2) The rich and wealthy organizations are able to make large political contributions, while the average citizen is not in a finacial postion to do so.

3) Politicians advertise themselves during elections.

4) Aggregation of representatives into groups involves the choosing of a leader who then enforces a homogeneous behaviour for the group. The individual group members are pressured by a party whip to vote collectively on issues, and individuals are discouraged from debating or voting by their own conscience or according to the will of their constituents.

5) Most poiliticians appear to operate on the basis of mandate. They seem to feel that because the people elected them, that their personal views and those of their party are supported by the people for the duration of their term. What the people actually want on each issue appears to be disgarded as not relevant.

Example:

80% of Canadians opposed the abolition of the death penalty, but the Liberal party, in power, overruled the will of the people and eliminate the death penalty.

6) Polictical parties have the collective resources to manipulate the media, by conducting loaded polls, the results of which are reported in the media, and create a false impression of what the public actually wants.

Ridicualous example:

Polical poll:

Would you prefer to be tortured to death or pay higher taxes.

Rerported in the media:

According to a recent poll, 99% of tax payers support higher taxes.

7) All public statements are groomed to put the parties best spin on it, so as to influence public opinion.

8) Incumbent parties facing an upcoming election can go on a spending spree prior to an election to buy votes using the taxpayers money to support their election bid.

The result of these circumstances is that polical parties provide one stop shopping for those who would seek lucrative government contracts and who want legislation passed to increase their own personal wealth or power.

The contributions made to the campaign are used to advertise the party, where each individual candidate operates like a franchise owner, endorsed by the party and covered under the blanket party advertising campaign. Independent candidates cannot muster the resources to counter such huge advertising budgets.

The purpose of such campaign advertiseing appears to be to convince voters that the political party is their best choice, through FUD, when in fact these parties care little for the voter and really are just concerned about those who financed their campaign. They will make a show of concern for voters, but it is all FUD.

Political parties by their very existance undermine the principles of democratic govenment.

Individual representatives who should represent their constituents do not. They instead represent those who made campaign contributions. The leader of the party in power becomes a defactor dictator, representing only friends and those who financed the last campaign. Public opinion only matters to the extent that it cannot be manipulated and controlled, with rigger polls and carefully crafted public statements, written by expert speech writers and scrutinized to ensure a positive spin.

Political parties use social legislation to create programs and laws that are financed by public purse, where taxes on the wealthy are minimized and taxes on the middle class are maximized, to create an impression of caring for the little guy. These tactics are transparent efforts to buy votes in the next election using the taxpayers own money. Where taxes are not used, deficits are used, so that votes can be bought by robbing future taxpayers, without raising current taxes and incurring the rath of voters.

It appears that the worst fears of James Madison have been realized and we now live in thinly veiled corrupt marginal dictatorships, based on political FUD, that benefit the privileged class, while destroying the middle class and depressing the incomes of all but the wealthy, who are now experiencing vastly rising incomes, at the expense of all others.

The only solution appears to be to raise awareness of these problems and encourage people to vote independent. The elimination of political parties appears to be necessary in order to restore democratic government, and ensure that the governments act according to the will of the people and not according to the will of the priviledged class only.

fudfree