The photo above, from the
Daytona Beach News Journal, accompanied a story about how the community of
Smyrna Beach, Florida, was seeking to discourage Spring party-goers, way back in 2023. My own focus, in today's blog posting, is on
political parties, not on the kind of parties that are held in various seaside locations (including Santa Cruz, California) as good weather draws crowds of young and old beach lovers to gather in large numbers, usually armed with alcohol, and to behave themselves badly.
In fact, my ruminations here stem from the fact that I recently ran across one of my past blog postings, from July, 2024, which was titled "
Party On!" In that past blog entry, which was written after the disastrous demonstration, in a televised debate, that our then-president Biden was almost certainly not going to prevail against the challenge facing him from then past-president Trump, I suggested to the grandees of the Democratic Party that they should "use some of their money to assist working class voters, Latinos and others, to build an organization that can deliver for the working class this November."
Let's eliminate "Top-Down" party politics; that was the essence of my message. That is still good advice, in my opinion. That's still what I think!
This current blog posting is titled, as you can see, "Party Off!" I am once again suggesting (
as I also did yesterday) that our political involvements should not, ideally, be initiated and solely mediated by our political parties. This is a suggestion that I have made rather frequently, going back quite a long time, as I found when I reviewed my past thinking:
Many believe that our political choices are two: "Red" or "Blue," "Conservative" or "Liberal," "Republican" or "Democratic." That perspective, I think, which promotes party polarization, is the main cause of the kind of political constipation that is so horribly evident in the United States Congress, and that blocks effective action by our elected representatives. Effective representation of the diversity of this nation demands discussion, debate, and compromise. The kind of polarized politics presented to us by both political parties is effectively preventing our system of democratic self-government from operating in the way it is supposed to.
Policy debate, not party-line power struggles, is what we need to promote - at least that's what we need to promote if we want to be able effectively to confront our challenges, and to realize our opportunities. So, "Party Off" is my suggestion!
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