Thoughts about the 2 party system

Who or what has said that we should have a two party system? Why not 3 or 1 or 10, or none? How would we achieve a viable method of including the voices of all ‘parties’ in the decision making/problem solving system? Why ‘parties’ at all. Why not individuals? Had the idea of political parties, arisen in the context of constraints possessed by some particular social order in the past, or some education or communication deficiencies
present in the past, but no longer constraints? President Washington question the concept of political parties during that very first term. Political parties are not even mentioned in the Constitution. Why not individuals with NO organizations promoting them, just individuals running on their own merits, experiences, and ideas? How could we NOW provide for the learning and understanding about those individuals by their constituents? If we insist on a 2 party system, why not provide equal voice for each party in the problem solving, decision making process? When voting and elections often separate different individuals or parties by only a few percentage points, why should not the idea of the lesser achieving individual NOT be presented, heard, or considered in the decision making process, decision making bodies, or within the greater public forum? Nearly half of the ideas of the populace are being hidden, or ignored, and not considered. Is that to suggest that nearly half of the people at any one time are not worthy of having their ideas made available and understandable and considered? Seldom if ever does an elected representative have a mandate of all.

If we insist on a 2 party system, why not have the constituency of each political party elect one individual who then would sit beside the other individual in the deliberative bodies of the senate and/or house, and collegially work together to come up with ideas and action plans for solutions to the problems we/they face? Are the possible solutions to problems always dichotomies? Do we consider ourselves individually infallible and fountains of truth and possessing all necessary knowledge to make decisions independently? Would not the ideas of others, and their experiences synergistically contribute to alternate solutions or ideas? Are we not attempting to work toward some mutual benefit? That however brings up the question as to what is considered a benefit. When determining benefits, what is the projected time frame over which the benefit is to be achieved, and what is the time we expect the benefit is to last in to the future? Are we looking only for time periods of an elected official, the employment period of a CEO, a single generation, or multiple generations?

Conditioned to Authority

Someone always knows or understands better! Yes? From the time we are born, through our ‘growing-up-years', then as participating grown adults, most of us may have a sense that for much which goes on in our immediate as well as the greater world, there are others better qualified to make decisions and take responsibility. For reasons that are laudatory, as well as sometimes seemingly practical, the adults around children, acting in what we believe are the children’s best interest, structure and limit the child’s world. “Children are children, you know, and are likely to make mistakes.” We want to protect them, shield them, and direct them in the ‘right direction’. Isn’t it more efficient to experience the right things and be exposed to the right-proven-ideas than to blunder around, explore blind avenues, and waste time not having things work out as planned? We don’t want people or society to ‘fail’. Someone else knows what is best and right for us and is better prepared to make decisions. As adults, do we also then adopt and accept a hierarchy of authority? Do we delegate or abdicate to others, who we perceive as authorities, the decisions and responsibilities that will protect and provide for us? Who has the motivation and self assurance to consider and tackle the uncertainties of our lifetimes, those things that will be “The Black Swans” as described by Nassim Nicholas Taleb? The authorities? Who are they? You? Me? or THEM? . Does this make things run better, or correctly? Correctly for whom, from who’s vantage point, for how long?

As a recently retired middle school teacher, I have experienced during those 40 years what I’m hypothesizing is a large part of the population highly conditioned to accept, desire, and cow to authority, more so as the years have progressed. I will be developing this hypothesis over the next few months through this blog as it relates to all parts of our individual and collectives lives. This will be kind of a debriefing of my world view after the experiences that have shaped me during the past 40 years. Hopefully these writings will raise questions, cause you to reflect and share your understandings from deep within you. I find I typically have more questions than understandings.
I also have biases. I'm sure you will point them out to me/us.