Frank Reichert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in part: >Maybe perhaps, we need to address how principles, versus Party >labels, fit into this mix in terms of American politics. And, in >such a context, just how can principles, or at least individuals >in principle, run for public office when Parties (in and of >themselves) most often reflect expediency in terms of 'getting >elected'?
The forms of gov't & of institutions or traditions have some input there, though it may not be decisive. You're asking essentially two things: (1) How important are political parties and their operation to politics in the USA? (2) In the operation of political parties, campaigns, and governance in the USA, what is the relative weight given to principles of any kind vs. the desire of individuals for jobs and other perquisites? I can say that as it currently stands w.r.t. #1, the party systems are relatively weak in the USA compared to those in most other countries whose politics I've read of. The decline in the strength of the party systems in the USA over the past century or less has been remarked about widely by political scientists. It should be noted that the founders of the USA expressed a desire to forestall the development of "faction", and if they were sincere in that abstract desire they may well have applauded that recent trend. However, there is considerable variation from state to state in the strength of party systems w.r.t. campaigns and/or governance. For instance, NY & NJ, at least, are said to have tightly controlled parties in their state legislatures, with most important issues decided by party-line votes, and members of the assembly & senate of these states being subject to stringent discipline by the respective party leaders among them. When it comes to question #2, I don't know whether the USA is particularly an outlier. It seems to me that the richer a country is, the less urgent politics appear to the voters, and the more the political class look to politics as make-work for them, increasingly divorced from ideology or other principles. On that scale the USA is far along merely because we're so rich, not because we're away from that correlation. >Now the question. If you are a Libertarian in Hawaii, or in >Idaho, what do you do? If you're a Libertarian, i.e. a member of the Libertarian Party, I suggest you quit it in Hawaii as much as anywhere else! But there's still plenty you can do as a libertarian without having your own political party. There are many issues on which the Democrats in HI or the Republicans in ID are at equipoise -- that is, that party's leadership and/or grass roots not coming down decisively on either side of. That's where you have leverage, even in the relatively short run of local & state-level politics. In Your Sly Tribe, Robert _______________________________________________ Libnw mailing list Libnw@immosys.com List info and subscriber options: http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw Archives: http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw
