posted on Nov, 17 2004 @ 06:07 AM
This is a great thread, with some excellent and diverse points being raised. I'll try and stick with the original post for now.
I've often considered the possiblity of the formation of a new party, which isn't shackled or corrupted by corporate interests, and doesn't play up
to the backbiting, spin doctoring party politics which grab the headlines and divert us from the real issues. I'd love to do it, be part of a
political revolution, for the re-instatement of real democracy through the formation of a party of integrity and democracy, that is credible enough to
be elected.
I admit though that it is a hugely idealistic, and masssively difficult, if at all possible task.
For a start, a political party needs an infrastructure, representatives, a HQ. It needs a means of communicating with the people. It needs clerical
administration and materials. All this costs money - lots of money. A political party needs a lot of money just get from someones head out into the
real world.
Even the Labour party relies on donations to keep it running. It is these donations and financial affiliations that can affect a party's integrity.
How do you keep a politcal party financed without affecting what you stand for? Can you rely on outside funding? Can you finance it yourself? You see
the catch 22 situation here?
Money rules, unfortunately. But is there a way of doing it without money? Could a group of people with a common vision, with the smarts and motivation
to achieve something tangible come together and manage a party without the need for money?
Money aside, there are other obstructions and pitfalls to overcome for such a party. How does a one avoid the nastyness of party politics; the spin,
the slander, the lies that currently blight the system, cause us to distrust politicians, and ultimately lead us to this discussion?
Where and how should one pitch the party to the public? Would people vote for it? How do you gain to votes for it given its (at least initial)
obscurity?
The big questions though for me are: -
Given the eventual possibility of such a party coming to prominence, government even, is it possible to remove the corruption and deliver the power
and the truth to people? What would happen if all the things that act against the people were suddenly purged from the political paradigm? What would
the people with money, who are used to, and demand inlfuence and power do?
These are questions that I'd like to see answered, not in a platonic or hypothetical manner, but through the reality of such a situation. Although
the reality of forming a party that could upset the applecart and actually do something is hugely daunting, with a miniscule likelyhood of success,
the idealistic part of me feels that this should happen. I still dream of a proper democracy, free of corruption, deceit, oligarchy and corporate
rule, and I hope that enough people feel the same for a shift in politics to truth, integrity and real democracy to take hold.
~daydream over~