Topics Justice

Question Aren’t political parties essentially tools to avoid having your own opinion? I mean, it’s very easy for me to say, “I’m a Democrat,” and then just believe whatever the Democratic political party tells me. Doesn’t that seem a bit like simply selling your mind and letting somebody think for you? It seems to me to be the modern equivalent of the medieval Church.

Accepted:
February 8, 2009

Comments

At least in the USA, political parties aren't monolithic. Though we're in a period where there may be more uniformity among Republicans (at least in Congress) than there has been historically, Republicans disagree among themselves, and any Democrat thinks ruefully from time to time of Will Rogers' famous quip that he didn' belong to an organized political party because he was a Democrat.

People can follow their party or their church mindlessly, but that needn't happen. Many people belong to a political party because overall, the party fits their political values better than the alternatives, and because collective action is often more effective than hundreds of Lone Rangers acting on their own. But it's not unusual for members of Congress not to vote with their parties, and it's also not unusual for a registered Democrat or registered Republican to vote for a candiate of another party. So the comparison with the medieval Church seems a bit strained -- especially since the sorts of sanctions parties impose on wayward members fall quite a bit short of thumbscrews and such.