Politics' Problems and Electorate Education

      There is, as there is every pre-election-year, an uproar between presidential candidates and party-loyals, with each candidate, with lackeys in tow, claiming that they can end poverty, that they can end wars, that they can boost the economy, and that they can do whatever else it is that you want them to do. And while all of this is very amusing, it is also rather sad, and serious.

      Politicians today are not the great benefactors and fearless leaders they claim to be. They are many times corrupt, selfish, party-indoctrinated people who have decided that politics will be their job, that politics will put the food on the table. We have come to accept corrupt and lacking of skill as apt adjectives for our politicians. They have repeatedly used us, betrayed us, and ignored us, yet every four years we pick on man who we will adore and support, we decide that they really can do everything that they say they can, and we blindly wander into the ballot box, convinced ours is the right choice.

      But the tragedy of our political system is deeper than the fact that most of our politicians are either inept or corrupt, or both. The problem lies in our basic concept of how politics and government should be run. The basic precept of our system lies in the idea of parties. Parties organize funds, people, and ideas into an effective campaigning system. They allow one person to gain national attention and to have the financial means necessary to communicate with as many voters as possible. Parties form standardized ideas about political, social, and governmental ideology, allowing people to vote for a belief system and not just a person. All of these attributes are what have made the party system so prevalent around the world today. All democratic nations use parties to vote, and have done so since the formation of the United States of America. But parties have a number of disadvantages as well. They have made many people believe that there is some sort of set system by which all governmental decisions can be made; they have led people to think that one system of governing must be followed all of the time. They have allowed inept people, with enough money and support, to rise to positions of power, without the skills those positions call for. They have formed national organizations that many times squelch local concerns, and finally they have formed into profit making groups for many people, people whose goal is not to see the most qualified in power, but to see whoever owes them in power. These are grave problems, and problems that must be addressed if we are to find the ideal government.

      The best solution to these problems is not to disband parties, as they have many advantages (see paragraph #2) but to educate the public on how government, society, and the economy works. A good understanding of these things will allow people to see through false claims and worthless blather, to make better decisions. You would not ask someone not trained in physics a physics question. So why would you ask someone not trained in sociology and economics a socio-economic question? The electorate needs real answers to questions on government, not party-line ideological responses. Party ideology sometimes works, but most of the time you need a mix of moderate left and moderate right to solve problems effectively. Of course, politicians won't like this education, but who are we living for?...