THE ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES

We WILL FIX Congress. How? 1) We’ll eliminate the partisan structure (the "Majority" and "Minority" "Leaders" & “Whips” that were created by a simple Rule of Congress in 1899, and can be eliminated just as easily - - despite inevitable resistance). 2) Members will elect their Speaker and Committee Chairs by secret ballot of the entire body, and Members will be empowered to think for themselves. Parties will still be participants in our national life and dialogue. But they won't be in control. Not in Congress. Constantly being divisive. Constantly playing to win, rather than govern.

(An Aside : My late uncle William Sergeant, ran the Rotary Club's international campaign to eradicate polio. They have very nearly succeeded. Rotary is a great organization. Why would we ask Rotary, though, to run the Congress? We wouldn't.)

Why do we assume that divisive, antagonistic, winner-take-all-mentality-addled Political Parties should run our National Legislature? Just because they always have?

Where would we be, if we accepted that logic? Women still wouldn't have the right to vote, "because we've never done it that way".

Parties are great at coalition-building; at framing arguments; at advocacy; at mobilizing for candidates and legislation. They will always play an indispensible role in our national life. But they are by nature, divisive.

However, there's another reason Political Parties aren't ALL BAD.

They engender competition.

Competition in the realm of policy formulation is a good thing, just as competition is good in business and in athletics. But in business: you cannot make products infants can choke on; you cannot tell lies in your advertising; and you cannot have monopoly dominance of your market. In the business realm, we draw lines around what's acceptable. We have limits. In the NFL, we draw lines, too. For 20 hours of the year (assuming you get into the play-offs) we allow you to do things that are felonies (aggravated assault), the rest of the year - and even during those 20 hours, there are yellow flags and penalties.

In 1934, Nebraska decided to become the first state in the country to put some limits on competition in partisan politics. Everywhere else in the country, partisanship still reigns, without limits. In Nebraska, even though all but one of the Members ("Senators") in the legislature are registered with a party affiliation (mostly GOP) in their home counties, and even though that party affiliation is published with their bios in the Nebraska Government Blue Book , nonetheless, there is not permitted any divisive Majority/Minority/Whip setup in the Capitol, itself. (see POLITICO and THE ATLANTIC ).

Democratizing Congress, in this manner, (by devolving power from the party bosses, to the Members) will appeal to the 80% of Congress Members who today are sheep. The others, the powerful and privileged, will cite George Washington's noble example, as they voluntarily, if reluctantly, yield power, “ for the good of the nation” (or perhaps to avoid a revolution among their fellow Members).

When a reform


it will happen.