The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Why Political Parties Suck

Posted on | April 17, 2012 | 17 Comments

by Smitty

Krauthammer:

On whether escalated violence in Afghanistan will accelerate US withdrawal:
No. The [liberal] base [of the Democratic Party] is loyal and cynical. It will not attack its own president in the run-up to an election — no matter what. It stands on principle only if the Republicans are in office.

Political parties are a special case of Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy. The GOP and the Dems put on an occasionally interesting bit of theater while beggaring the crowd.

You’re not going to get rid of them. Therefore, the question moves to what we can do to minimize their negative impact on We The People.

Category: Politics

Comments

17 Responses to “Why Political Parties Suck”

  1. Adobe_Walls
    April 17th, 2012 @ 6:20 pm

    Liberal’s have principles?

  2. smitty
    April 17th, 2012 @ 6:31 pm

    Yes, that’s the office where they stick the underperforming teachers.

  3. AnonymousDrivel
    April 17th, 2012 @ 6:38 pm

    What to do?

    Vote them out so quickly that they don’t have the time to establish sinecures and alliances.

    We have millions of people with a subset of many thousands of people each generation who could ably serve (keyword serve) their political districts. Get in, do your duty For the People by The Constitution, and get out.

    But, no, we seem to think the likes of an Orin Hatch, John McCain, Arlen Specter, Ted Kennedy, Jay Rockefeller, etc. should serve in perpetuity because, um, they are one of “ours.”

    You know, when one of “ours” is in that long, they are no longer one of us. I thought we learned that back when the Brits ruled the roosts.

  4. richard mcenroe
    April 17th, 2012 @ 7:22 pm

    Who sez we can’t get rid of them? 

    There are at least 535 lamposts in DC.  Throw in a couple for You Know Who and the chairs of the RNC and DNC and hey, nonny, nonny…

  5. Charles
    April 17th, 2012 @ 8:19 pm

    The divided government play is to vote for some of each party. If they then don’t get anything done, assuming there is nothing pressing that needs to get done that they can’t agree on, that serves the ends of limited government.

    However, the two parties seem to be onto that game, at least insofar as running up the debt is concerned.

  6. Adobe_Walls
    April 17th, 2012 @ 8:38 pm

    Rut there is much to be done or rather undone, divided government won’t do that. Unfortunately neither will Republican dominated government either.

  7. Bob Belvedere
    April 17th, 2012 @ 9:29 pm

    ‘The GOP and the Dems put on an occasionally interesting bit of theater while buggaring the crowd.’

    There…fixed that for ye, Admiral.

  8. Charles
    April 17th, 2012 @ 9:45 pm

    Today there are 4 or 5 Tea Party Senators in the Republican minorty. Come November may see 6 or 7 Tea Party Senators in a slim Republican majority.

  9. Adjoran
    April 17th, 2012 @ 10:51 pm

     It could jump-start a domestic hemp industry, which would have the added benefit of making the Paul fans happy.

  10. Adobe_Walls
    April 17th, 2012 @ 11:03 pm

    How many of them will still be able to spell “Tea Party” after a couple more years in the Senate?

  11. richard mcenroe
    April 17th, 2012 @ 11:05 pm

     I would pay cash money to watch Paulies try to smoke rope hemp.

  12. Adobe_Walls
    April 17th, 2012 @ 11:07 pm

    If we can’t find enough hemp rope there’s always extension cords.

  13. Adjoran
    April 17th, 2012 @ 11:07 pm

    If you listened to Krauthammer’s full comment, he notes the reason the Republicans won’t embrace a bug-out is they don’t want to present a weaker image than Obama for the election, which is just as unprincipled. 

    But blaming the parties is like blaming the mailman for bringing bills.  Got mirrors?  It is the voters who reward such cynical behavior who force parties to play the posturing games.  That’s why we couldn’t deal with the entitlement mess when it first became evident, why we have to dance around all these issues.

    Too many voters would rather be comforted than hear the raw truth, rather be placated than presented with tough choices, and rather pass greater costs on to future generations than pay the real cost of what we have wrought today.  

    The fault, dear Smitty, is not in our Parties, but in ourselves that we are underlings.

  14. Adjoran
    April 18th, 2012 @ 5:16 am

     By the time Obama is through with electricity costs, that might be all they are good for.

  15. Adjoran
    April 18th, 2012 @ 5:34 am

     It is generally true that markets like that situation on the theory that the federal government being unable to do anything is a positive, in the current situation the status quo is financial suicide. 

    The train wreck we are in with bipartisan cooperation requires a certain resolve to survive, a quality we can be sure the Democrats not only lack, but will fight tooth and nail to defeat. 

    There is no guarantee that a President Romney with a GOP House and Senate will do what is necessary to stop the fiscal bleeding, but we know absolutely that any other configuration cannot do it.

    To many, it will seem that trusting our future to the GOP congressional leadership is a hopeless venture, and they are not without reason for their mistrust.  But there is no more road to kick a can down, our backs are against the wall.  I believe that a GOP Congress and President will do the right thing if forced to, if there is no remaining alternative.

    If not that, what is there beyond buying ammo, seed, fertilizer, and fuel in bulk?

  16. Bob Belvedere
    April 18th, 2012 @ 8:18 am

    We need a Crassus.

  17. Adobe_Walls
    April 18th, 2012 @ 10:40 am

    Correct, which is why only after a cascade catastrophic events will the “people” get it. At that point the excruciating pain required to solve these problems will no longer be an option. Our grandchildren will be reduced to using broken bits of bathroom porcelain to scrape hides for clothing.