Personally I feel that the more recent argument is the most attractive due to the fact I currently dislike the three main parties, and the thought of one of them having monopulous power is a difficult concept to grasp. The reason I have chosen this as my choice is because I both agree with the discussion topic and disagree.
I feel that political parties should be abolished for many reasons. Firstly the main one being that these days all the parties are the same and that they no longer have individual audiences as they are all trying to captivate one. This is known as aggregating interests. Although the parties do have some separate policies the vast majority are the same to make each different [party more attractive to the majority of England. This I feel is a waste of space and the parties may as well not be there as there is little choice between them.
Secondly because that all the functions that a political party should serve are of an ideal party, which people feel these days are few and far between.
Thirdly I feel that the MP’s voted in with the separate constichencises no longer represent the very people that voted them as they do not voice the feelings of the people in their local area. This could be down to the lack of people who are members of the parties, so the individual say is no longer heard, or This could be because within the parties the Mp’s are expected to side with their party, which is no good if it goes against their own conscience and if they know it would upset the people that voted for them. If on the rare occasion and MP doesn’t side with his party there can be dire consequences for him such as demotion or even to be kicked out of the party. This I feel is not right as everyone should be entitled to their own say and so is a key reason to the abolishment of political parties.
Finally a point that links in with the previous one, in which the art of debate no longer exists in parliament. It’s so often that parties have monopulous majorities that a few opions are listen to but don’t change anything. This is no good in this form of democracy as it nears a dictator ship in style of decision making. I believe that if things held more debate behind them ten maybe people would be happier with any polices that are brought in.
However there is the other side to the argument which also is very convincing.
First of all, political parties help to speed up the decision making in parliament. If the House of Commons were filled with 650 individuals each holding a different opinion, then each different issue raised would take ages to come to a conclusion. This could be disastrous as important issues that the parliament addresses every day would either not be gotten to at all, as other issues would be pressing the MPs or wouldn’t be addressed soon enough.
Secondly parties provide an immediate back up government if there is a flash election called. This ‘shadow Government’ if formed by the second biggest party in the House of Commons (currently Labour) and if the flash election goes to labour then the cabinet is already set up for the mps to take over their new roles.
Thirdly (as I mentioned before) I feel that having the parties’ helps to make voting easier for the public. This is because when voting for a party you know you are voting for certain policies. When voting for an individual you could be voting for anything as you don’t know what their personal beliefs and opinions are.
Fourthly the political parties enable teamwork among the like minded Politicians. With one party running the country working as a team it helps things run more smoothly, and with less scandal. If the cabinet were made up of completely different people then the likelihood teamwork would commence is slim and you would soon see Cabinet ministers going off against the other ministers will and doing things they are not meant to, or advising the Primeminister wrongly to purposely cause problems.
Finally political parties allow the public to become involved with the running of the country. Whether it’s just from voting or going as far as joining the party and getting trained to be an MP. The parties’ allow participation and they give people opportunities to get involved. They are also always looking out for potential leaders especially while recruiting which also gives people great opportunities to see firsthand just how their country is run. I’m not saying you couldn’t join parliament if there were no parties however I fell that the parties provide a sense of belonging, teamwork and unity amongst themselves.
So in conclusion I feel that the political parties are both assets and liabilities to the country. I feel that the most recent idea of allowing individuals back into the House of Commons is the way forward and would prove to be successful in the eyes of the general public, and if a none biased organisation was set up to fund these individual MPs then I believe that people would be up for becoming one. I also believe that they would be voted for by the public as in the past it has been a very popular option.
