[Election-Methods] Partisan Politics

[Fred Gohlke]

Good Morning, Juho

Very well said.  I hope you're right.  I hope we can improve our 
political systems in less than 200 years.  But, as you point out, "... 
the current establishment always has clear reasons to oppose any 
changes."  That will make the process slow, and, possibly, painful.

You mention the growth of corruption as a possible alternative to the 
attainment of a more democratic government.  There is little doubt of 
the cyclical nature of human interaction; "a tide in the affairs of man" 
as Shakespeare put it.  Society constantly moves between states of high 
principle and abject baseness  We can never know precisely where we are 
in that cycle.

In fact, even though we are all a part of it, people's perception of the 
cycle differs.  Not many young people can see the change from the 
human-oriented society of my youth to the corporate-dominated society we 
endure today.  For most of them, "It is what it is".  They attach little 
importance to the obscure and arcane legislation that enabled the 
transition and are even less inclined to seek an understanding of how 
and why it happened.  Is it hopeless to think we will ever look inside 
ourselves and learn to harness our own natures to the task of improving 
society?


re: "... change will come when ... the citizens have some basic reason 
(dissatisfaction) to change the current system."

One of our challenges is to prepare well-reasoned alternatives before 
any change occurs.  There is a risk that dissatisfaction will lead to 
violence, and violence thrives on emotion at the expense of reason.  We 
would do well to forestall that eventuality.


Since our political institutions reflect our nature, do you think I 
should be surprised that so few seem willing to look at how our systems 
evolved?  Are we so proud of our tendency toward partisanship that we're 
unwilling to look at how easily it is used to exploit us?  Are we so 
anxious to say "I'm right. You're wrong." that we won't consider 
alternatives?  It is unfortunate that those who have written to me 
privately on this topic have not added their expertise to our public 
discussion.

I'm deeply grateful for your participation which helps me see the issues 
more clearly.  Your comments on secret voting led me to examine the 
voting process in greater detail than I had before.  There are any 
number of other subtleties worthy of deeper thought.  For example in a 
dynamic system of the type we've been discussing, some folks who are 
elected to public office will not be re-elected.  In our House of 
Representatives in the U. S., we would be asking people to take two 
years out of their life for public service with no guarantee that they 
will not be out of a job after two years.  Shouldn't our political 
system provide the means and the money for their transition to private life?

Fred