What is party politics? Is it any more than a distraction, kept in place to dissuade people from thinking about what could be? Not a day goes by that I do not see opinion pieces from this or that political mouthpiece, from right and left, slinging obscene amounts of mud at each other. This is merely a microcosm of the larger issue, which is this: the artificial division of our society by means of parties, who simply debate whether this or that piece of legislation will bring about the end of our so-called (and I may add, nonexistent) democracy.
Is there a solution to this issue? This may sound like blasphemy to those invested in keeping such a giant machine operating, but I am of the opinion that party politics deserve to be abandoned in favor of something else. What such an alternative would imply is something that many people will have differing opinions on. One may ask, “Is class collaboration such an alternative? Corporatism? Monarchy?” or any other such ideals. This question is left for each person to answer for themselves (I will not claim to know the answer), for there needs to be a better way than only voting, the reputation of which both left and right have helped tarnish to no end, in my eyes.
The way I personally see it is this: not all men and women belong to a party, but all (or most) do belong to a profession, a trade, a discipline, thereby forming a part of the “body,” the overall machine, which makes up our society. Once we are able to consider this, and ponder upon the implications of this realization, then we may be able to break from the futile nature of partisanship and work towards something more sustainable and more conducive towards the well-being of our localities.
Again, I do not claim to know the answer to the problem of political parties but have simply attempted to make an (admittedly small) effort to bring this issue to the mind of at least one person. All that I have desired to do here is to give some reader a lump of clay, but it is up to said reader to give it a shape of some sort.
I do not use this to say that one should not vote (though, the rhetoric used by both major parties may inevitably result in this), or to tell them for whom they should vote, but simply to give them food for thought, as it were.
If I only manage to truly reach the mind of one reader, then I say, “Do not be afraid to initiate change! Do not be afraid nor ashamed of admitting what is, frankly, an ugly truth that few would bear witness to!” For, if I only manage to change the mind of a single person, then there may still be a hope of some true change, not the “change” which is promised in every electoral cycle.
Francisco Rosario
Gainesville
