Society without Politicians and Parties - Utopia or Reality - Research Paper Example

Can we have a Society without Politicians and Political Parties? Introduction There are different types of democracies that are practiced in different countries in the world. There are some countries that practice direct democracy whereby people make decisions on their own. In other countries, we have indirect democracies whereby people are represented by political parties through the leaders. Political parties and political leaders are of significant impact in direct democracies. All the supreme nations in the world for instance the United States of America and the United Kingdom have political leaders and political parties (Renee and Stansbury, 26). This ensures that democracy in the United States and in the United Kingdom is enhanced just like it is in other democracies. Many researchers and scholars have, however, gained interest to understand if we can have democracies without political parties and their representatives. This paper will go in depth analysis to comprehend whether it is probable to have democracies without political leaders and political representatives. Why do we have political parties and political representatives? People have no choice rather than having political parties. This is because political parties are not the government. They just enhance debates in economic, international, marriage, housing, education, law, and other issues in society. For instance, in the United States, we have the democrats and the republicans who engage in massive debates (Corrales, 52). Such debates are crucial as they make the government do what is right for the people. Some scholars have also observed that the world we live in needs politics and this will eventually mean political parties and political representatives. Many times we have said that governments have failed to address the needs of the people. Many people will associate this with the politicians, but the reality is that politicians are just catalysts of the changes that are brought by the government. This is why we have legal procedures that have to be taken before implementing any law. Therefore, political parties and politicians are good as they catalyze the changes that we have in the society. For instance, they will fight for the rights of the civil servants so that they are well paid. The civil servants on their will not be in a position to fight for this right (Howe, 42). This is evident since in countries were governance has problems civil servants are poorly paid because there are no potential and able political leaders to actively fight for the civil servants’ rights. Since the world we live in has been viewed as a world that needs politics, we see that we need political leaders as people’s employees. When we elect political leaders, we usually employ them to protect us and help our lives run smoothly. This is because without politics, a person can just go to a house and kill an individual and the matter is not taken with the seriousness deserved (Renee and Stansbury, 57). With political leaders, it becomes easy since they are employees of the people. It would be unrealistic if we could not have people to represent different parts of a country. This would mean unequal sharing of the national cake, but with political leaders the sharing becomes fair. For instance, in the united states where we many states, sharing of national resources and wealth would be unequal if we did not have political representatives from those areas to fight for the rights of the people. Therefore, political leaders enhance stability in a country and at the same time ensure that there is equality. If we could not be having political leaders are people’s employees, then it would mean that all those with needs would express them to the government directly. A philosopher once said that human needs are endless (Kazin, 46). This means that governance would be a real problem without political leaders since all citizens will be expressing different needs. With politicians, it becomes easy to present the needs of people for instance in a certain state or county to the government rather than a case where people from the areas report individually to the government. This is what brings order in the society. We have political representatives to put the needs of the locals at national level. Through the political representatives, issues concerning a certain region for instance a state or a constituency are addressed at national level. Although citizens may be divided because of political parties, policies, or even interests, political leaders unite them since they address their needs as per region rather than as per their interest, policies, and political party differences (Bishop and Davis, 29). Political leaders, therefore, influence public policy as they link people of different ages, religions, ethnic groups, races, economic groups, and societal groups with the government. Since political leaders are usually elected by the people, they make the people be accountable for the policies and actions. This is because citizens are usually provided with different policies by the different political leaders and their respective leaders, but they chose the ones they want. For instance, in the United States, the republicans and democrats have different policies. Citizens in the country are usually allowed to weigh the strength and advantages of each of the party’s policies before electing them (Wilentz, 37). Therefore, when one of the parties is elected to govern the country, the citizens become accountable for the policies and their consequences since they are the ones who put them in power. Therefore, political leaders and political parties improve public welfare since the citizens have the right to elect whoever they want. Despite the pressures that citizens may get during campaigns, they will eventually vote in the government they want. Democracies without Politicians Politicians are just normal people who are elected by the people to represent them at national and international level. It is clear that all over the world politicians are usually mistrusted by the people. This is because of issues such as corruption, bribery, and other political scandals that make the political leaders be mistrusted by their supporters. In addition, politicians are full of fooling people with empty promises. This is usually seen during campaigns through their policies, but when they get into power these policies become a thing of the past. Politicians are associated with many issues that hinder stability in a country (Driver, 23). This means that if we could live in a world without politicians we would foster stability as people would trust others. This kind of mistrust makes many people not to vote as they belief that the politicians will not bring any significant changes. At times, we will view some politicians as trustworthy, but what happens at the end is that the same leaders disappoint us. The situation becomes worse when people ignore politics since political leaders take advantage of this by being more concerned of their power needs rather than the needs of the society. So what happens with politics is that few individuals gain more power at the expense of the others who are the majority. This then leads us to the question of whether we can run democracies by all citizens without political representatives. Politics at large is associated with immorality in the society (Bishop and Davis, 56). Many of the behaviors and practices that politicians engage into are spread across other institutions. This makes the society to be immoral. Therefore, without politicians the society could be morally upright. This is true because if we do not trust politicians then it means that we do not need them. As a matter of fact, no one can be interested in someone he or she does not trust. A democracy without political leaders would mean direct democracy, a political system where citizens decide all policies on their own. Since the job of politicians is to decide for the masses, their position is usually lost through a direct democracy. In this kind of democracy, there are no leaders who are paid to represent others; thus costs for running a society are reduced. This would also solve many problems for instance cases where politicians are allocated funds by the government to address specific issues in their areas, but they end up misusing those funds at the expense of the citizens (Renee and Stansbury, 18). Therefore, if we could have political leaders, funds allocated would be used to meet the set objectives since all citizens in that area would be involved. Developments would be done communally rather than individually or secretively as they are done by the politicians. Politicians also contribute to differences in the community. For instance in the United States of America, politicians have led to what is termed as the republicans and democrats. This is even worse in countries where more than two parties fight for power. This will mean that each political leader from a political party will have his or her own supporters. This makes people in the society to be divided. This has in most cases contributed to civil wars whereby supporters fight for their leader to be in government (Corrales, 45; Howe, 31). If we could do away with politicians, then it means that all citizens would be united. For instance, in the United States we would not have democrats and republicans. This would help to prevent many civil wars that are linked to politicians. Democracies without Political Parties There are some critics of political parties that show how it could be better without them. Of most important to note is that political parties divide the society. This is because different people will be interested in different political parties. This is worse in democracies where there are more than two political parties. This is what has mostly caused wars after elections like the ones that have being experienced in different African countries. In the United States, political parties have divided people into republicans and democrats. This kind of division is usually a threat to the security of a country (Howe, 50). Although some scholars argue that this kind of division is crucial for development as it helps to raise different views and ideas, the end result of the same becomes a problem to the citizens. The latter statement may make sense, since different political parties have different policies and when they bring all of them on the table it becomes efficient to make notes and come up with the best ones. However, people at the grass roots will not recognize the importance of this as they will be divided by the political party stands. Therefore, if we could do away with political parties we would solve many issues in the society, and at the same time enhance commonness. Another reason why we can do away with political parties is because many of them are never accurate. This is why some people have termed politics as a dirty game. The inaccuracy in political parties is seen in their policies. Politicians use the tactic of giving and promising people what they want. In order to be able to go to power, a political party must promise to solve all the needs of the people (Renee and Stansbury, 62). Some of these needs are long term, but the politicians will promise to fulfill them in order to get the attention of the people. As the parties are campaigning, they set high and promising policies that will enhance social, political, and economic growth, but when they are elected they do not meet such. This can be seen from the case of the United States where the current and previous governments of Barrack Obama were promising to solve unemployment fully, but this has still remained to be a substantial problem in the country (Driver, 39). Therefore, most of the political parties just use false data and promises to convince masses to vote for them. This is a game that people in the society find themselves in it, and even at times supporting the most inaccurate parties. Political parties in most times are about control. For a political party to be successful and supported by the majority, it has to take control of the majority in that nation. When people support a political party, they will be controlled by it because they will be supporting the party in whatever they engage in for instance in debates. This blinds the people in the society as they find themselves signing the same song with a particular political party without considering their personal political interests (Bishop and Davis, 46). This kind of control is what has resulted to cases of corruption, bribery, and other deviant behaviors by governments since they take advantage of the massive support they get from the people. In addition, this kind of control by political parties makes leaders take advantage of this to be reluctant. This is why the highly supported political parties tend to be exceedingly reluctant when they are elected to power. This can be seeing from the case of dictators such as Muammar Gaddafi of Libya who was followed by the majority in the country despite the inhumanity he had (Wilentz, 42). These shows how political parties control people by making them blind politically. Lack of political parties in today’s democracies is crucial as it will make all leaders responsible. In the past, political leaders have being engaging themselves in deviant behaviors such as corruption with the understanding that their political parties will protect them. We have seen cases where political leaders commit crimes, but because of the power of their political parties, they are set free. This means that political parties in a way contribute to individualism as they protect the leaders even when they are wrong. This is usually at the expense of the grass roots. If we could do away with political parties in the world’s foremost democracies, we could have all leaders being responsible (Kazin, 59). This is because they would be judged at a personal level rather at the political party level. In addition, we would look at the performance of a leader rather than the performance of a political party. This would be crucial since there are some political leaders who are only elected because of the power of their political parties. There are some individuals who are terribly weak, but because a particular political party has gained majority support in the country, they take advantage of this to be voted in by the people. This could be solved if we could do away with political parties (Howe, 61). This would make the democracy be open since individuals would be analyzed at a personal level rather than group level. This would ensure that only the best leaders are elected; thus fostering economic, social, and political growth in a democracy. It is also notable that political parties come with many problems. There are many problems that occur because of political parties. This is more evident in countries where there are more than two political parties. The first problem is that the citizens are usually divided as they support different parties. This kind of division is usually a threat since it fosters rivalry between the different groups. Issues like post-election violence are usually caused by these differences. In addition, political parties lead to misuse of a country’s resources and wealth as much of it is shared between the political parties rather than been used to develop the local people. Other problems such as corruption and racism are catalyzed by political parties (Kazin, 49). If we could do away with political parties, their many problems in the society that could get solutions. At the same time, there are many questions that would get answers at the advantage of the grass roots. Lastly, it is evident from all democracies in the world that governments have to come and go. A political party that is in power this time will step down during the next elections to see if they can get back to power. What happens in most cases is that most political parties when they get into power they forget about the needs of the people. The leaders in the party take this as time to build the power of their political parties so that they can be elected in the next government. This makes politics to be the order of the day in different countries. This can be best solved by doing away with this political parties because as they keep on changing the more they keep on engaging in political matters rather than the needs of the grass roots. A philosopher once said that the majority of the politicians we have in the world fight for power with only a few being after financial needs (Renee and Stansbury, 72). The politicians through their political parties will focus on power building, and this is usually at the expense of the citizens. Factors Favoring Democracies without Political Parties and Political Representatives There are different factors and changes that make it easy to have societies without political parties and their respective representatives. These are factors and changes that are in favor of direct democracy. Technological change is a development that supports direct democracy. This is because mass communication has being highly improved through technological developments. This has made activists circumvent political parties easily. In the past, it was clear that the parties communicated directly with the people who are the voters. The mass media has reduced this role as televisions and radios allow political candidates to communicate directly with the voters (Kazin, 29). Telephones are also used for communication. Computers are also used to communicate with voters. This is mostly done through the internet and social networks. All the latter technological developments can play a key role in enhancing a democracy without political parties and political leaders. This is possible because people will vote for policies at the convenient of their homes. This will ensure that all individuals are involved in decision making rather than having political leaders to make decisions for the majority in the society. Proliferation of interest groups is another that favors direct democracy. This is because parties have being weakened as pressure groups in the society ensure that political leaders do not gain power at the expense of their subjects. In addition, the pressure groups ensure that the interests of the grass roots are prioritized (Bishop and Davis, 56). This enhances direct democracy as the masses gain more power in decision making. This means that we could do away with political parties and their respective leaders. Another factor that favors democracies without political leaders is higher literacy level. As more people are getting educated, they are prioritizing their personal developments. This makes them not to associate very much in politics. This is why it is very rare to have cases of wars in developed countries resulting from political rivalry, but in developing economies this is usually the order of the day. Development in third world countries has been hindered by poor governance that makes the citizens engage in civil wars resulting to negative growth of the economies (Kazin, 25). Countries that have improved their education systems such as Malaysia and South Africa have fewer cases of political rivalry. Therefore, as more people are getting literate, the power that political leaders and political parties have will be reduced heavily. This will eventually be in support of democracies without political parties and their respective representatives. The last factor that favors societies without political leaders and political parties is globalization. The world has changed to what is termed as a global village. This is has led to internationalization of different goods and services. Movement of people has also become easy and free. Therefore, if we need political parties and their representatives this should be done at international levels rather than the local and regional levels (Renee and Stansbury, 37). This is a factor that highly supports a democracy without political parties and their respective leaders. Conclusion We can have societies without political leaders and political leaders. This is because the disadvantages of the latter outweigh their benefits. Although political leaders are crucial in modern societies, there are some factors such as higher literacy levels, technological improvements, and globalization that favor societies without political leaders. There are many problems and negative issues that are associated with political leaders. This can only be solved through doing away with them. This will enhance openness in the society as all citizens will be directly involved in development of the nation. Works cited Bishop, Paul and Davis, Green. Mapping public participation in policy choices. Aust J Publ Admin, 61(1):14–29, 2002. Corrales, Javier. Presidents Without Parties: The Politics of Economic Reform in Argentina and Venezuela in the 1990s. Boston: Penn State Press, 2002. Driver, Stephen. Understanding British Party politics. London: Polity, 2011. Howe, Walker. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States), Pulitzer Prize; surveys era from ant-Jacksonain perspective, 2009. Kazin, Michael. The Concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History, 2011, p.149. Renee, Ian and Stansbury, John. Citizen Participation in decision making: Is it worth the effort? Public administration review, 64(1); 55, 2002. Wilentz, Sean. The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. New York: Cengage Publishing, 2005. 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