You and who’s party?

“I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member”

Groucho Marx

Much of the past 17 years has been dedicated to fighting fundamentalist extremism, largely of the religious persuasion. This is understandable, as the religious mindset, certainly in those areas of the globe where faith is a majority holding, affects and informs the cultural values of society, and certainly in the West we have found ourselves at odds with extremist Islamic groups. Fundies of the Muslim persuasion have been at the forefront f these combative efforts, although we have also seen the dangers of the looming Christian theocratic state. It is fair to say while this will be an ongoing struggle, it is one we are coming to understand very well and are able to combat. But what of other types of fundamentalist creeds? What of political fundamentalism?

This is, I fear, something we are neglecting to talk about, instead preferring to remain steadfastly tribalised to the point where discussion with the opposition is becoming shunned. Yes, there are extreme political philosophies that absolutely must be eradicated, as they serve no good purpose save a warning (I’m looking at you alt-right Nazis and Fascists), but one does not need stumble far from the mainstream parties to see the rigid factionalism usually reserved for the fringes.

Take, for our example, the current state of the main two UK parliamentary parties: on the left, we have Labour, still struggling to find an identity since the neo-liberal, centre-right hijacking of the party by Tony Blair; on the right stands the Conservatives, largely insistent on playing at sharks circling their prey, but never quite getting over their cowardice to attack, whilst simultaneously fulfilling their purpose of enriching the elite while ensuring their next return to power will occur three days after the apocalypse. A shitshow of stupendous proportions, hell bent on auto-cannibalism. And yet the members of both parties seem to entrench themselves so much in internal inter-factional rivalry as to seemingly forget that they should be demanding better of those they elected. I’m beginning to think the Sentinelese have it right: small population, no engagement of the outside, and death to all interlopers.

The Labour party situation is this: A Leftist got the popular vote as leader and has successfully remained so having seen off attempts at removal. He is backed by those who genuinely mean well, and have good ideas and solutions, but consistently get bogged down by letting the rest of the political establishment and the media control the narrative, and by having some rather inconvenient views occasionally, which then get blown out of proportion (for the most part). There also exists the Blairite faction: those who long for the days when everything was really good, except for those pesky wars they know they shouldn’t have involved themselves in, and the lack of financial regulation that really didn’t end well for anyone. Finally, there’s the reformed Blairites, the ones who seem to think that US Libertarianism looks quite sensible really, and of course we’re not right-wing, we’re centrists and isn’t that what is good for all?

The Tory old boys, who ostensibly control the Executive these days, are having similar amounts of fun: a Prime Minister who has less personality and range of facial expressions than a Smash robot, a Cabinet no-one can keep track of as they all want to quit because they are disgusted by the work they have done because it’s not what they wanted, backbenchers who are getting ideas beyond their station, and donors who aren’t sure they made the right choice.

This is just what’s going on with the two main parties, let alone the smaller ones (although most of those seem to have their shit in gear). And this is just UK politics.

Clearly the party thing isn’t working: the will of the party (or its controlling members/committees) should dominate, but the centre cannot hold. The ceremony of innocence is drowned, mere anarchy is loosed etc etc. Few, if any, MP’s care to listen and take on board what their constituents say, let alone consider acting in their best interests. Factionalism rules the roost, and that has spread beyond party lines to the greater electorate, who are fed more lies, half-truths and post-truths than a Barnum show, and thus make a new religion of politics, where truth, logic and fact are sacrificed upon the altar of greed, self-preservation, and a form of nationalism that looks very much like the beginnings of autocracy.

But what to do about it?

As I’m sure we have all seen by now, the cynicism employed at the local government level of the “Independent” candidate – certainly in my area, it means little more than a Tory by any other name. This isn’t to say that all independents are politically allied with one party or another, but certainly the existence of parties enable this kind of surreptitious behaviour. But what if these parties were not there? What if each candidate had to be very clear on their political beliefs and aims, actually codify these things so that they could be judged not just by party alliance which gives you a vague impression of their standing, or by the 5 minutes you see them at your front door, smiling and grovelling for your vote, but by their actual character, their ideology? Now yes, things do get a little more complex at the national level, but this is where factionalism could come into play usefully – as it does in the European Parliament. Loose coalitions of similar views, without whips or dogmatic party worship, could better help things get done – no fear of reprisal voting, more support for individual bills that would normally be crushed by party whips.

Now, I’m not writing this as a fully-prepared, ready-to-go implementation plan. I couldn’t even begin to start fleshing this out. But I am writing this to start several conversations, ones I find important, ones that might be able to address the issues and find solutions. Party politics has failed and is in free fall collapse, much like the economic system it props up. Tribalism and factionalism, specifically political in this case, is overly-polarising and destroying civil discourse as well as straining interpersonal relationships. Extreme demagoguery has become the order of the day again, somehow, despite living memory recalling how fucking badly that ends. Reality, truth, and facts are not just being twisted, but being ignored and even condemned as conspiracy theory. This is not the how healthy, mature democracies should be. Descent into chaos is the exact opposite of what should be happening. But that is the state of the First World right now. And it must end, this is entirely unsustainable.

If you think my outlook is bleak, then you might be catching on. Time for actual change, before we end up in a cyberpunk hell.