[EM] Small National Assembly. Bottom-Up Government.

[Fred Gohlke]

Good Morning, Michael

We express ourselves differently, but there is similarity in our views. 
  If I can do so without seeming argumentative, I'd like to describe my 
attitude about parties.

You mention that I "feel that parties are a bad thing".  It's true, I 
do, but this is a complicated topic because partisanship is an important 
part of society.  It is a natural part of human interaction that gives 
breadth, depth and volume to our voice.  It is not only inevitable, it 
is healthy.  Parties provide the path for change.  Our efforts here, in 
discussing a bottom-up political system, will be futile if we cannot 
attract others to join us - and that's partisanship.

Even so, parties are dangerous.  As George Washington warned us in his 
Farewell Address, political parties provide the means for cunning, 
ambitious, and unprincipled men to subvert the power of the people and 
usurp for themselves the reins of government.  When parties control the 
political infrastructure, the people are blocked from deciding the 
issues and naming the candidates for public office.

That's why achieving a bottom-up structure is so important - it gives 
non-partisans a voice in politics; a way to soften the excesses of party 
politics.

While it is true that "Parties & their platforms clarify and summarize 
the offerings", that is a top-down concept.  when political action 
starts at the neighborhood level, the people - including, but not 
limited to party members - will decide the issues and select the 
candidates they believe able to resolve them.  Such an arrangement 
encourages the absorption of diverse interests, reducing them to their 
essential element: their effect on the participants in the process. 
There are no platforms, there is no ideology, the divisiveness of party 
politics is gone.  The only question is, which participants are the most 
attuned to the needs of the community and have the qualities required to 
advocate the common good.


You wrote, "It will be natural if & when, by conversations everywhere, 
there comes to be a largely unanimous feeling that democracy is never 
going to be allowed under current rule. It's about conversation, not 
leaders or organizers."

I don't disagree, but someone has to start the conversation - as we are 
doing here.  To that extent, we are leaders.  However, in this case, 
once thoughtful conversation starts, others may show themselves to have 
better ideas than ours.

Fred Gohlke