Thrice times in one evening.

[captmorgan]

I can't sleep because right now I'm at my creative peak, and so many ideas are flowing in my head I must capture as many as I can. I've assigned myself to write a paper on this topic, but I want to get some opinions

Comments

[peglegmeg]

the problem with getting rid of political parties is a lack of order. if you get rid of political parties, how do we decide who gets to run? can anybody and everybody run for any office that they want? who's affiliated with who?

also, i think you overestimate the level of political education here. there are still a large number of americans who vote a straight party line without watching a single interview or reading a single magazine article. is this necessarily good? no. but at least they get to chip in somehow, and party affiliations give everyone some limited idea of what a candidate stands for. (although sometimes it doesn't appear there's much difference anyways)

so, my thought is... are parties perfect? no. do they sometimes serve as a block to progress? yes. could we use some viable alternative parties? definitely! but are they necessary for the current structure of our government? yes.

[captmorgan]

Last night I was thinking more along the lines of whether the average American needs to define himself as either a Republican or Democrat. I know obviously that we could never get rid of political parties, and they are necessary, but I guess I was looking more along the lines of them as the political machines; that they're necessary at the government level so people can form coalitions and work together and know that this party stands for A while another party stands for B

[nerdron]

I think political parties are essentially evil entities (ell eah for alliteration) but there's no getting rid of them and there's no making our system more than two parties. it's just going to be that way, and i will tell you why, my fine-feathered friend

[captmorgan]

I thought about the idiocy of most Americans, and for them, yes we do need political parties. I'm not sure I wanted to say completely abolish political parties. The interesting thing to think about is how they started out, what they have become, and what they will become. Which is where this conversation kind of heads towards, because obviously change does not happen like a flash of lightning in America. Which has led me to think of a completely new topic: The influence of media on politics. But I'll save that for a post of it's entirety

[nerdron]

i share the feelings of hopelessness, my love. and the triumph of writing so much crap in your journal. i especially liked the bit about the green party being comic relief. you ARE coming to six flags on friday, arent you?