Political Parties

October 31, 1994

Q: Under reformed Proutist democracy, will there be political parties, or will there be some kind of partyless democracy?

You know, in a democratic system, there is one essential factor: All people should have proper education and should be encouraged to be knowledgeable and informed so that they may practice democratic functions in a proper and responsible fashion. But there must also be a mechanism for expressing the needs of the people. In a single party system, there is no mechanism. Suppose one party with one view is in office. Then a person may come with quite a different view and that view may be widely accepted by many others, so they are supported. If there is a single party, then they must war it out in the party itself. Then what will happen? The party will fractionalize and, in essence, you will have two parties.

So, how can there be single party democracy? It cannot happen. There must be the scope for those with dissenting views to create momentum for their views. There should be competition in the political arena, just like in any other arenas. Healthy competition builds a good society.

You see, it is just like in the farm. If the farmer has no competition, they are in a communal farm where there is no incentive for good work and there is no effort to compete or to excel, then they will become sloppy, and their work will become poor. Their productivity goes down. The same is true in the political arena. If there is no competition, if there is no reason to excel, to be sharp, then what will happen? They will get sloppy, they will get overly comfortable, and they will see no reason to be responsive to the people's needs or to the people's cries.

Now, let us say there is a world confederation, and there are maybe 100 members of that confederation stemming from local ethnic, cultural and economic provinces. In this federation, will there be one party, two parties, three, four, five - what will happen? All of these confederation members will come, and they will represent their own state, their own views. Within the federation, each member may have different political parties that have pushed and pulled against each other to elect the one representative.

Now, that one representative will go as the representative of that region, of that area, to the federation. Let us say there are 100 regional representatives in the federation. Then those individuals will make decisions according to the dictates of their own people. But how will they become elected? If there is a single party, then the needs of the people may get ignored. But if there is competition, and there are certain restrictions, then it is not simply a matter of buying one's way to the top or having the most money to put the most advertising on the TV to dupe the minds of uneducated individuals. If there is a good democratic system functioning very well so that educated people, who are informed, may make intelligent choices, and there is no exploitation of the mass media or any other arena so that the minds of the people may be bought, if there is a good competition, then both parties will have to be very sharp if they want the seat. They will have to appeal to the people, or else the people will elect another individual.

Now there is only one party, but within that party there are five factions, or five candidates - then what is it really? It is five parties, each with different ideas, different representatives, different organizations, pushing for this idea, that idea, and a person to represent them. So, what are they? You may say it is one party, but it will be five parties if there are five views and five candidates.

So, in a democracy, a single party system is not possible. Nor is it desirable. If the competition is regulated properly, it will lead to more serious interest in the needs of the people, and those who represent will be certain they appeal to the people and represent the people, lest someone else do it better and take the seat instead.

But you know, in this type of democracy, it is essential that those who are voting be educated as to the issues at hand and that there be no scope given to exploitation of media and other means to overly influence the minds of the people. Ojective information must be handed from all sources to the people, and the people may decide from this objective information.