False Paths in Rights Life
The Problem of Political Parties
The Founders of our American form of government abhorred political parties, and warned against them gravely and repeatedly. Why ?
The need for governments, as noted previously in this series, lies in our inherent, ongoing human tendency to error ; and insofar as we interact with others, our need for protection from, or redress of their errors, trespasses, etc. Because we have needs of this kind in common as human beings, agreement is also possible, on the basis of honest communication, both as to the kinds of actions that are problematic, and on solutions needed to correct them. Identification of common concerns is thus a core, necessary activity in human social life ; and agreements on solutions are pillars of its orderly, harmonious unfolding. These processes are core functions of rights life, and of all tasks governments may take upon themselves, the most legitimate.
Political parties typically champion some part of the concerns people have in this realm of rights life - and ignore, oppose or simply fail to notice others. But they are in fact all important - one or another simply being more actively relevant or challenged at different times, and in different ways for different people.
Rights life is in fact a unified field, and is damaged by this element of picking and choosing. It opens the field to divisions, to more intense extremes of sympathy and antipathy, and undermines the faculty of empathy upon which rights life depends. Not least, the forming of factions and parties provides entry points for special interests, especially (but not limited to) economic interests, that exploit conflicts and differences for their own ends. The impulse to political parties is a constant temptation in rights life, and an aberration to the healthy rights process.
Individual and Collective
Once embarked on, these divisions tend to take a life of their own, in which social differences are emphasized and, inevitably, hardened. What should optimally be a process of clarifications and agreements, becomes increasingly one of power. Emphasis on and the valuing of the individual in rights life shifts, mostly unnoticed, to identification of and appeals to various "collectives" - racial, religious, economic, gender based and others.
It should be noted that a "collective" is a definition, a kind of mental tool - but human beings in real life are individuals, always. And while identifying with a collective may have benefits in terms of power, the power can also be turned against one.
In an age of collectives, the status of the individual in society has declined - radically. The lone, isolated individual has become suspect, vulnerable to attack by any self-identified collective ; which may itself be quietly manipulated by power-minded individuals. Even if not explicit, the risk to be "cancelled", "deplatformed", lose one's livelihood at any time, all virtually without recourse, takes its toll on personal expression, on initiative and psychologically.
Again : the individual is the basic unit of human society - we are all one of these !
To summarize, if rights life in its healthiest form sends a message to the individual human being, it would be of the nature of
"You are unique, valued - irreplaceable. If you do harm, you will be stopped, and held accountable - you can count on this. But except if you do harm, you are free to work, learn, create, communicate, associate and thrive unhindered. You will have an equal say in any new rules created ; and equal treatment under rules already made."
But the message in the wind has changed, to something more like this :
" You, yourself, are alone ; by yourself nothing, of no account. For what you would do, you must have permission ; and if ordered, you must obey. The rules of society are established. If you resist - in thought, word or deed - you will be punished."
Party Platform and Party Discipline
To consolidate their identity and differentiate themselves from rival groups, political parties typically formalize their beliefs, values and positions on various matters, and distill these to a party platform ; which then forms the basis for specific goals and strategies - a unified program. Political parties platforms carry an air of idealism, something of which a party's various constituency-collectives can be proud, and rally behind. But amid the good feelings, it's easy to miss that as they rally for something, they somehow inevitably find themselves rallying against the "something" of someone else. Why ?
Again : these oppositions, and all their eventual consequences, begin inevitably when our universal human concerns in the realm of rights life are divided into parts and pieces, and claimed by political "parties", no matter how many or few. If two parties are formed, the process will tend towards a "zero sum game" - one winner, one loser ; if many, towards chaos. Once rights are divided, conflict will be baked into the pie ; and this is not the nature of this sphere of life.
Adherence to party platforms - termed party discipline - has become more and more strictly enforced on elected officials over time, with penalties both formal and informal, up to and including denial of party funds and support. Individual party "planks" (positions) may be and are also "captured" by those most fanatical on an issue, or who represent special interests (including economic ones). Here the great majority of our elected representatives, sent to represent the great majority of citizens, are held hostage to a powerful few. Perversely, this will be done in the name of the collective/constituency, and be dressed in a cloak of secular holiness. Policies - and injustices - enshrined in this way are almost impossible to get rid of - and are precisely the phenomenon described previously as "government stood on its head".
However deeply ingrained they may be in our habits, political party systems are the enemy of healthy rights life ; they baffle it and will eventually tend to destroy it. While abolition of parties would be traumatic, and in fact cause still greater harm, a withdrawal of support, beginning at the level of ideas and thinking, is a different matter.
Rudolf Steiner observed - repeatedly - that the threefold idea can become reality in a sustainable way only if enough people understand it ; but that once they do, they'll also begin to apply it, directly and spontaneously, in their smallest choices and actions of life. The power of an idea to kindle human will, Steiner also said repeatedly, is a secret, seedlike force in human life. History itself, in this sense, is a drama of good, true and constructive principles in tension with more one sided, false or destructive ones, with the human being forever struggling - and at risk - in between. Movement towards health in rights life, and in society overall, must begin in the realm of our thinking, concepts and ideas.
This series will next explore unhelpful paths in rights life with three basic mindsets that undermine it, and turn it still more seriously destructive. The last four articles will look beyond rights life to ways the threefold idea can be cultivated as a robust and creative force in society, bringing the three spheres into healthier interaction and alignment ; and how it can be nurtured into a reality in the world - in small ways, at least, by anyone.
Article by : Jeff Smith RN (Retired)
Next in series : False Paths in Rights Life : Problems of MINDSET
The Problem of Political Parties
The Founders of our American form of government abhorred political parties, and warned against them gravely and repeatedly. Why ?
The need for governments, as noted previously in this series, lies in our inherent, ongoing human tendency to error ; and insofar as we interact with others, our need for protection from, or redress of their errors, trespasses, etc. Because we have needs of this kind in common as human beings, agreement is also possible, on the basis of honest communication, both as to the kinds of actions that are problematic, and on solutions needed to correct them. Identification of common concerns is thus a core, necessary activity in human social life ; and agreements on solutions are pillars of its orderly, harmonious unfolding. These processes are core functions of rights life, and of all tasks governments may take upon themselves, the most legitimate.
Political parties typically champion some part of the concerns people have in this realm of rights life - and ignore, oppose or simply fail to notice others. But they are in fact all important - one or another simply being more actively relevant or challenged at different times, and in different ways for different people.
Rights life is in fact a unified field, and is damaged by this element of picking and choosing. It opens the field to divisions, to more intense extremes of sympathy and antipathy, and undermines the faculty of empathy upon which rights life depends. Not least, the forming of factions and parties provides entry points for special interests, especially (but not limited to) economic interests, that exploit conflicts and differences for their own ends. The impulse to political parties is a constant temptation in rights life, and an aberration to the healthy rights process.
Individual and Collective
Once embarked on, these divisions tend to take a life of their own, in which social differences are emphasized and, inevitably, hardened. What should optimally be a process of clarifications and agreements, becomes increasingly one of power. Emphasis on and the valuing of the individual in rights life shifts, mostly unnoticed, to identification of and appeals to various "collectives" - racial, religious, economic, gender based and others.
It should be noted that a "collective" is a definition, a kind of mental tool - but human beings in real life are individuals, always. And while identifying with a collective may have benefits in terms of power, the power can also be turned against one.
In an age of collectives, the status of the individual in society has declined - radically. The lone, isolated individual has become suspect, vulnerable to attack by any self-identified collective ; which may itself be quietly manipulated by power-minded individuals. Even if not explicit, the risk to be "cancelled", "deplatformed", lose one's livelihood at any time, all virtually without recourse, takes its toll on personal expression, on initiative and psychologically.
Again : the individual is the basic unit of human society - we are all one of these !
To summarize, if rights life in its healthiest form sends a message to the individual human being, it would be of the nature of
"You are unique, valued - irreplaceable. If you do harm, you will be stopped, and held accountable - you can count on this. But except if you do harm, you are free to work, learn, create, communicate, associate and thrive unhindered. You will have an equal say in any new rules created ; and equal treatment under rules already made."
But the message in the wind has changed, to something more like this :
" You, yourself, are alone ; by yourself nothing, of no account. For what you would do, you must have permission ; and if ordered, you must obey. The rules of society are established. If you resist - in thought, word or deed - you will be punished."
Party Platform and Party Discipline
To consolidate their identity and differentiate themselves from rival groups, political parties typically formalize their beliefs, values and positions on various matters, and distill these to a party platform ; which then forms the basis for specific goals and strategies - a unified program. Political parties platforms carry an air of idealism, something of which a party's various constituency-collectives can be proud, and rally behind. But amid the good feelings, it's easy to miss that as they rally for something, they somehow inevitably find themselves rallying against the "something" of someone else. Why ?
Again : these oppositions, and all their eventual consequences, begin inevitably when our universal human concerns in the realm of rights life are divided into parts and pieces, and claimed by political "parties", no matter how many or few. If two parties are formed, the process will tend towards a "zero sum game" - one winner, one loser ; if many, towards chaos. Once rights are divided, conflict will be baked into the pie ; and this is not the nature of this sphere of life.
Adherence to party platforms - termed party discipline - has become more and more strictly enforced on elected officials over time, with penalties both formal and informal, up to and including denial of party funds and support. Individual party "planks" (positions) may be and are also "captured" by those most fanatical on an issue, or who represent special interests (including economic ones). Here the great majority of our elected representatives, sent to represent the great majority of citizens, are held hostage to a powerful few. Perversely, this will be done in the name of the collective/constituency, and be dressed in a cloak of secular holiness. Policies - and injustices - enshrined in this way are almost impossible to get rid of - and are precisely the phenomenon described previously as "government stood on its head".
However deeply ingrained they may be in our habits, political party systems are the enemy of healthy rights life ; they baffle it and will eventually tend to destroy it. While abolition of parties would be traumatic, and in fact cause still greater harm, a withdrawal of support, beginning at the level of ideas and thinking, is a different matter.
Rudolf Steiner observed - repeatedly - that the threefold idea can become reality in a sustainable way only if enough people understand it ; but that once they do, they'll also begin to apply it, directly and spontaneously, in their smallest choices and actions of life. The power of an idea to kindle human will, Steiner also said repeatedly, is a secret, seedlike force in human life. History itself, in this sense, is a drama of good, true and constructive principles in tension with more one sided, false or destructive ones, with the human being forever struggling - and at risk - in between. Movement towards health in rights life, and in society overall, must begin in the realm of our thinking, concepts and ideas.
This series will next explore unhelpful paths in rights life with three basic mindsets that undermine it, and turn it still more seriously destructive. The last four articles will look beyond rights life to ways the threefold idea can be cultivated as a robust and creative force in society, bringing the three spheres into healthier interaction and alignment ; and how it can be nurtured into a reality in the world - in small ways, at least, by anyone.
Article by : Jeff Smith RN (Retired)
Next in series : False Paths in Rights Life : Problems of MINDSET
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