This opinion was contributed by San Benito County resident, George Fendler. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. Lea este artículo en español aqui.

I have to warn you this post is much longer than I originally intended. But, please read to the end and let me know if I am alone in my beliefs.

Partying is no way to run a government. Our founding fathers feared “factions of self-interest”. They saw them as divisive and threatening to the survival of a free republic. George Washington, in his 1796 farewell address warned that the “spirit of party” serves to distract the public, enfeeble administration, and agitate the community with “ill-founded jealousies”. John Adams said that he dreaded a division of the republic into two great parties as the greatest political evil under our constitution. James Madison viewed parties as a dangerous but inevitable byproduct of freedom. Thomas Paine denounced party alignment as intellectual slavery. He said that parties force an individual to “surrender their own judgment and blindly chase victory over truth”.

While George Washington was the only president to not affiliate with a party, the others found that starting and participating in parties was the only way to compete with those that do.

My observation is that as we are stuck with our parties, we need to be very careful and mindful of our participation in them. There are many facets of ruling a nation. There are many different ways to run things. Ideas are bubbles of knowledge that we all have. Some of them, after giving careful consideration, seem to have value. Most of them are like farts—they never have enough substance to accomplish anything positive.

Because some members of a party believe in some of the principles that you agree with doesn’t mean that you have to support the ones that you don’t agree with. If you check your brain at the door when you join a political party you have just corrupted our self-government.

When I was a child I remember having a conversation about religion with another kid. He told me what his family “believed” about something. I don’t remember what it was. But, it seemed important to me at the time. I do remember going to my mother and asking her “what do we believe?” That was certainly a naive and juvenile thing to do. But, I was just a child. When an elected politician has to check with “party leadership” to find out what he “believes” he is no longer representing his constituents.

When I was growing up the Kennedy v. Nixon debates were what all the adults were tuning in to. I tried to follow along as much as a young teen could. I watched the televised political conventions. Much of it seemed silly and childish to me. But, I learned that each of the parties developed a set of principles that they referred to as a platform. The elements of their platforms were called planks. It seemed to me that things that were defined by their planks were what they were supposed to “believe” as a party. Everything else was up to the individual politician to decide. And, he was supposed to formulate his opinion based on his interaction with the people that he hoped would choose him to represent them.

Over my lifetime the political platforms have morphed into dogmatic and irrefutable “facts” that everyone in the party has to rally around. And there is no obligation to document any of the facts If the DNC or the GOP put it in their platform it must be true. It has become so divisive that people actually believe that if you dislike a politician from a particular political party you must love his counterpart from the other party. It seems that nobody is allowed to dislike the current president without loving the previous one. That is what party politics has driven us to. It’s not good. It is destroying our nation.

BenitoLink invites all community members to share their ideas and opinions. By registering as a BenitoLink user in the top right corner of our home page and agreeing to follow our Terms of Use, you can write counter opinions or share your insights on current issues.