Political Parties and Free Associations

[RCA]

I'm having a hard time justifying the concept of a political party when put into modern perspectives. There is nothing wrong with voluntarily association, but today's political parties receive so much power from the government behind the scenes that the word "voluntary" is irrelevant.

For instance, why do you have to be registered for a particular party in some states? Why can't anyone vote for anyone in any political race? Why even have primaries? Why not a single election? Why even list party affiliation on the ballots? Isn't this coercion?

In the same way the Fed "could" act in the the people's best interest, parties "could" also do the right things. But the moral hazard that exists when parties are given so much power and prestige from the media and government begs the question, why do we have parties?

I attended the RLC Convention this weekend and there were a few great speakers and I learned a lot. There were probably about 75 people there and while most of them are well-intentioned libertarians, there was a definite "party first" overtone to the whole event. I noticed this not just from some of the people running the show, but also from people I chatted with during breaks, etc.

The event seemed more focused on pro-Republican/anti-Democrat than pro-Freedom and anti-Slavery. If I got these vibes from an RLC Cenvention, which sells itself as the renegade of the party, then is there any hope for any party?

Lenny Curry head of the Duval County GOP spoke about needing to prove your commitment to the Republican machine first through volunteering, etc. before you have a chance of influencing the party's direction. In other words he said get in the back of the line and don't piss on the veteran Republicans.

Um, I don't give a damn about proving anything to any party, I just want this country $#@!ing free again. Bowing to power and the entrenched veterans is our whole problem and how we got here, why would I want to continue doing that?

If Ron Paul has the balls to get on national television and tell the American public to vote for a third party candidate, why would someone like me who has only been registered to vote less than 2 years give a $#@! about doing what a party wants me to?

[Truth Warrior]

"In individuals, insanity is rare, but in groups, parties, nations and epochs it is the rule." -- (Nietzsche, 'Beyond Good and Evil')

[Alawn]

There is a fine line between breaking the political party control over the system and preventing free association. A ban on political parties would not be fair and clearly infringe on our right to free association. I think a good solution or at least a step in the right direction would be to ban listing a political party on a general election ballot. That would prevent the stupid strait party voters who know nothing about the candidates. It would only take a minute to figure out who is in which party right before you vote though.

[RCA]

There is a fine line between breaking the political party control over the system and preventing free association. A ban on political parties would not be fair and clearly infringe on our right to free association. I think a good solution or at least a step in the right direction would be to ban listing a political party on a general election ballot. That would prevent the stupid strait party voters who know nothing about the candidates. It would only take a minute to figure out who is in which party right before you vote though.

That would be a good first step but government does much more than that to help promote the false left-right paradigm. In other words, the two parties are already chosen for us and then we "voluntarily" choose which one of the two that we like best. Either government should promote no party at all or all of them equally, but the current system is anything but "voluntary".