Reasons To Dismantle The Current Party System

I've never been a big fan of the political party system.  Partly because it's rare that party even remotely resembles the kind of perspective in government that I think we need, partly because I believe the party system has become a fundamental problem in our political discourse.  

The current party system has its roots in the UK parliamentary tradition, where (at first) MPs would form natural alliances in the House of Commons.  Eventually that formalized into the current format of parties that exist across time and governments.  

How has this become problematic? 

There are many reasons I argue that it has become an increasing problem in our government, but let me enumerate a few of them: 

1)  The dominant parties make it hard for new voices and ideas to emerge

This is a fundamental axiom.  With the exception of the Green Party, Canada hasn't had a major new national party emerge in decades.  Fundamentally, it has been mostly Liberal and Conservative parties (with a few changes of name due to internal fracturing).  

This has meant that these two "brands" have come to dominate most of the political discourse, and they soak up a large fraction of the available funds through their fundraising machinery.  This makes it very difficult for a new voice to emerge and be heard.  

2)  Parties Have Become Businesses

The political parties have become businesses which sell the idea of power.  Their goal is to sell political power and dominance.  Just look at the constant stream of fundraising pleas, policy dressed up as simplistic "memes", and evasiveness when confronted with real issues.  They are trying to sell you on the idea that their particular brand is "better" than the other party's. 

They "make money" through donations, and the product they sell you is the idea of having "your type" in power.  

For me, this contributes to a level of disingenuousness that I abhor. 

3)  Rigidity of Beliefs

Through the course of my adult life, I have witnessed parties becoming increasingly rigid.  The idea of a "conservative" party today raising taxes to ensure the government can meet its fiscal needs is almost laughable.  Forty years ago, it was a legitimate discussion to put on the table to decide how a government was going to meet its obligations.  More centrist or left leaning parties are "laughed at" for even daring to suggest that governments are revenue starved.  

Parties used to write policy platforms for elections.  Those were always intended to be outlines of what a party would do if elected, but not a straightjacket.  Today, the expectation has shifted to turning these platform documents into straightjackets - if the government does anything other than the letter of what was in their policy platform, they are accused of lying or worse.  

This is completely counter-productive because it means that the politicians seldom are able to "get out of their own heads" and take in ideas which could be relevant to the problems of the day.  Governing parties tend to act like they have a divine right to run things according to their particular ideology, and opposition parties seldom do more than claim that their magic formula would work better.  Collaboration is all but unheard of. 

4) Secret Leadership

It doesn't matter which party we are talking about.  The party "leader" is often a figurehead - a person put forward to the public to represent the party.  Behind the scenes party executives and other people try to steer the ship either through influence or direct force of will.  One of the best examples of this was former Alberta Premier Allison Redford.  She was literally put on a "performance management plan" by party brass as her leadership gradually unravelled. 

Remember, parties are essentially "private clubs".  If you aren't a member of the party, you have no say in how it is run, nor anything else. We think we are electing the party's candidates to run things, but the reality is that behind the curtains, there is an ever-present group of people pulling strings  to get their way.  This is what gives us Premiers like Redford, who on one hand restored funding for several health programs that previous governments had axed; and on the other hand pushed forward legislation that revoked public sector unions ability to access binding arbitration in contracts (essentially giving the government a sledgehammer in negotiating with them).  It may well not have been Redford who pushed for Bills 45/46 (or was it 44/45), but forces within the old PCAA.  

In many ways, this is where voters are being sold "a bill of goods", and deserve far better.  

5)  Ideas?

Seriously, in the last 25 years or so, when was the last time you heard a politician stand up with legitimately new ideas?  Out of the political right, we get a steady stream of "government is evil", "cut taxes", "OMG, there's a deficit - austerity right away!" and so on.  Out of the left leaning parties we hear a constant drumbeat of "health care", "social services", "build infrastructure", etc.  

None of these are new ideas - most of them are rehashing approaches out of the post-WWII era, with a smattering of marginally brain-damaged economic theory thrown in for spice.  I honestly don't think I've seen a politician with a vision much larger than "how do I hang on to power as long as possible" for decades.

Again, I blame the increasing rigidity of the party system for creating this problem.  It means that parties do not converge in the centre (which was the original excuse used for why the party system was a good idea), rather they continue to insist on implementing their rigid philosophy, without even so much as consulting with their peers across the aisle.  

The idea of politics as a "marketplace of ideas" has slowly dwindled the same way that the corner store as a "miniature grocer" that you could count on to get a few staples at has.  New ideas, or even the idea of politicians collaborating with each other to come up with solutions to problems simply doesn't happen.  

Final Thoughts

We really do need to get rid of a bunch of baggage in our political system.  The problems we are seeing have become increasingly structural, and that has made it unlikely that the kind of flexibility and collaboration that is needed in today's world of complex problems will ever take place.