The Inherant Weakness Of Political Parties

Political parties are regarded as 'strength in numbers' and a more efficient way of stacking votes to control a parliament and form government. They do have a very serious weakness. Because their policies are achieved by consensus, the overall policy of a party must be the same as that of a single person. That's right isn't it? A party is effectively a single entity with a single set of opinions. Any deviation from this unity is exploited by competing parties as 'division'. What that means is that not only have parties degraded the diversity of human experience and opinions into that of a single entity but they are then vulnerable to any individual with a better set of opinions and the freedom of 'rapid response'. A party cannot change their opinions (policy) without consulting their members. Individuals can. This 'single entity' position is one reason why parties are forced to disconnect from the people they represent. Any minor request or question must carry the imprimatur of the whole party structure. That is cumbersome and inefficient. We are living in an age where individuals are becoming increasingly powerful. People will only tolerate political entities for as long as they are serving the people they represent. Unfortunately that stopped happening a long time ago.