[Prev] [Next]   [Index]   [Thread Index]

02805: Joseph Hammer

From: Fred Gohlke <fredgohlke(at)verizon.net>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:12:28 -0500
Subject: Joseph Hammer

Good Afternoon, Joseph

Very well said --- and thanks!!!

I'd like to add that over two hundred years experience with party
politics informs us that, when politics is based on partisanship,
the partisans form oligarchic power blocs that become an end in
themselves and ultimately transcend the will of the people.

Partisanship is a potent tool for those with a thirst for power
but it does not foster government by the people. It results in
government by a small fraction of the people. For the people as
a whole, the flaws in party politics are devastating. Their
cumulative effect victimizes the public by the most basic and
effective strategy of domination --- divide and conquer.

Parties are important for the principals: the party leaders,
contributors, candidates and elected officials, but the
significance diminishes rapidly as the distance from the center
of power grows. Most of us are on the periphery, remote from the
centers of power.

The challenge of representative democracy is not to divide the
public into blocs but to find the best advocates of the common
interest and raise them to positions of leadership.

Fred Gohlke


[Prev] [Next]   [Index]   [Thread Index]