What if we abolished political parties?

[Hesychios]

What if we abolished political parties?

Not sure there is a legal basis for doing so with the First Amendment in force.

I remember somewhere that the Confederacy tried to do that, but their 'experiment' was unsuccessful for some reason ...

[crone]

Political parties going away would also get rid of the consultant class. IMO, that's where all the money goes.

Let anybody who wants to run, file. They can say their piece on free tv.

If the politicians have no need for money to pay the consultant class, there would be no meed for campaign contributions. They might go back to doing what they were elected to do instead of kissing up to anybody with money.

That would also rid the world of most lobbyist. It might also rid the world of tv pundits. What a concept.

I'm in.

[DC at the Ridge]

Originally Posted by dpow

I think the divide between conservatives and liberals has gotten completely out of control over the past couple of decades. I've always wondered if abolishing all of the political parties would allow the country to become more united. Imagine if all of the candidates were allowed to have their own personal views instead of being forced to follow all of their party's views. There would be more constructive conversations rather than having the two sides of the aisle constantly screaming at each other for having completely opposite views on every single issue.
For the sake of uniting everyone in the country, do you think the American citizens could ever rise up and start a political revolution to force the politicians to abolish all of the political parties?

I'm pretty sure that your proposal would be found to be Unconstitutional. The right of association is fundamental to the right of free speech.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by Timmyy

I say we remove lobbyists.

to the Gulag!

[ohhwanderlust]

Ideally yes, but de facto political parties would quickly form.

Better to empower MORE political parties. I honestly think having 2 parties is the worst setup possible, because it encourages more emphasis on attacking "the other team" than on real ideas.

[lepoisson]

Sounds like a good plan to me! We have too many voters who vote for the party rather than the candidate.