By John Andrews
Denver Post Columnist
DenverPost.com
Nonpartisan politics is baloney. If you want to beef
up self-government, its protections and its powers,
you need strong political parties. You need parties
that are fiercely competitive yet able to compromise,
principled yet pragmatic, cohesive yet diverse,
law-abiding but lightly regulated.
Today's Republicans and Democrats meet this standard
pretty well. By comparison with parties in other
countries, or in America at other times, they meet it
very well. Both parties could do better, however. And
the drumbeat of elite opinion condemning
"partisanship" threatens to march us in exactly the
wrong direction.
These dry generalizations come to life in such
spectacles as the mating dance of President Bush and
Sen. Ted Kennedy on immigration, the slugging match of
Bob Beauprez vs. Marc Holtzman for governor, the
success of the Salazar brothers, and the failure of
public education.
Our American way - government by consent of the
governed - necessitates citizens foreseeing what
policies they are voting for, and knowing whom to
reward or blame afterward. Parties provide that.
Parties brand their candidates with a distinct
approach to governmental responsibilities ahead of an
election. They marshal their elected members,
legislative or executive, to carry out that approach
while in power. Then, at the next election they
collectively face the voters for accountability on
results.
In addition, the rivalry between parties serves a
watchdog function to deter deception, corruption, or
abuse of power. When these inevitably occur, the
underdog barks and bites until the misbehaving top dog
is reproved or replaced.
Two-party political competition in a representative
republic like ours is noisy, messy and imperfect. Yet
it has proved effective in terms of liberty preserved,
prosperity expanded and shared, the common good and
common defense upheld.
Pretensions of "scientific" governance by experts,
claiming to discern optimal policies, even to remold
human nature itself, landed here from Europe a century
ago. They set off a party-weakening trend that still
continues. Open primaries, direct initiative and
nonpartisan local government are among the results.
Nonpartisanship is often not merely a banner of
idealism, but a cloak for cynicism. When giant media
companies preach that party motives are always
unworthy and campaign money always dirty, their own
clout increases while the credibility of Republican
and Democratic organizations wanes. Coincidence?
Probably not.
When incumbent politicians on both sides, abetted by
the media, legislate campaign finance restrictions
that hobble challengers and muzzle political speech by
parties and interest groups alike, democracy takes a
hit. And somewhere, James Madison, author of the First
Amendment, weeps.
Framing a constitution for a free society, said
Madison in Federalist No. 51, involves a balance where
"you must first enable the government to control the
governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control
itself." Though dubious of political parties, he and
the other Founders were soon swept up in them. Most
scholars - the constitutionalists, anyway, if not the
progressives - would agree the balance he sought has
been strengthened ever since.
Party polarization is needed on immigration, where the
coziness of a GOP seeking cheap labor and Dems seeking
cheap votes gave us the amnesty bill. Party cohesion
is needed as Holtzman battles Beauprez to succeed Gov.
Bill Owens; my fellow Republicans threatening to sit
it out or go third-party only improve Democrat Bill
Ritter's chances.
A partisan growl is needed against the folksy pose of
Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. John Salazar, liberal
Democrats under their centrist cowboy hats. Party
branding is needed in elections for school boards,
city councils and RTD, which spend their ill-managed
billions with far too little accountability.
Is the party over for American politics? We'd better
hope not. Democrats and Republicans thriving, along
with Libertarians, Greens and others, are our best
defense against misrule by the self-interested and
self-anointed.
John Andrews (andrewsjk@aol.com) is a Colorado fellow
with the Claremont Institute, a conserva- tive think
tank. He was president of the Colorado Senate in
2003-04. He hosts "Backbone Radio" on Sundays at 5
p.m.on 710-KNUS.
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