Quote:
Originally Posted by JCB
For quite a while now I have doubted the need for party politics in local government .
I am pleased we have 4 Independents , and I hope they remain independent and increase in number .
It's true about the mirror image , which is a result of the party political system .
In its turn the mirror image is a mirror image of Westminster . Both Labour and Conservative Prime Ministers are more and more presidential.
I miss the likes of George Brown , Enoch Powell , Aneurin Bevan , and Michael Heseltine . I might not have agreed with them , but they stood out as their own men , and brought colour to politics .
|
I feel this point needs challenging. Independents can and do take both sides in an unprincipled way. The electorate has little idea what they stand for and in representative democracy get away with it.
Their expression of defiance and right to veto on any issue presents a serious risk that nothing will ever get decided or done. Independents are not how you would run a business or a sports team and expect progress without some collegiate responsibility.
In reality they are a protest vote and where they hold a balence of power there is to found not free expression but discord and political ransoms.
The Party system seems archaic but call it what you will, names don't matter, people have to work together and put aside petty point scoring. The Party system does that effectively and allows provides a discipline for policy and progress.